Although it is normal to hear the sounds of gunfire and bombings there, these gunshots in particular were targeted to kill the Syrian journalist and activist, Raed Fares (46 years old), and his colleague Hammud Junayd (29 years old). It was then when a twenty-year-old youth shouted at the door of the grand mosque, “They killed Raed .. they killed Raed and Hammud,” while Ali al-Dandoush, the young man in his twenties who was in the car with them survived.

Junayd, who was known as the “Barrel photographer” for daring to rush to the places where the bomb barrels were dropped by the Syrian regime’s planes to take close-up shots of the places and the victims of the bombings, was instantly killed.

Fares was rushed to a nearby hospital where he breathed his last after he got shot by several bullets and the doctors’ attempts to save his life were in vain.

Two hours later, the atmosphere of the whole town changed and grief loomed large over the Syrian community opposing the authorities of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. Along with the burying of the two victims, the pages of two of the most influential figures in the course of the continuous Syrian revolution of 2011 were turned.

Although the assassination took only seconds, the planning process took much longer. Even Raed sensed danger one week before he was killed. Back then, he talked to his elder son, Mahmoud Fares (24 years) privately and told him about the “risky threats” he has been receiving, and informed him of the identity of the entity that is threatening his life.

Fares was known, during his Syrian movement path, as “The engineer of Kafr Nabl’s famous and funny banners” (banners with drawings and critical expressions sending messages in multiple languages to the international community on the Syrian case.) He was the founder of the local “Radio Fresh” programs and was the manager of the Union of Revolutionary Bureaus (which is a group of civil society organizations that have taken upon themselves to execute projects related to medical services, medical treatment of children, women empowerment, and media training.

In May 2017, Fares was in Oslo, the Norwegian capital, and told the Norwegian crowd: “Since our revolution does not rely on the international community, we decided to work on our own to set ourselves free from all the continuous murdering committed by al-Assad against us, so we formed a civil society organization and worked on issues like education and child organizations.”

The perpetrators managed to silence his voice which rose early to face the growing radical system in his Idlib community and the whole of Syria. He was fully aware of the risks of what he was doing but he did not stop. He made a deep change in the region, and he was full of vitality to urge the demand for change and ending al-Assad’s authority, according to those who were close to him, Fares represented the hopes of a whole generation of youth who faced the waves of change after the outbreak of the Arab Spring in March 2011.

After the assassination, the crowds in Kafr Nabl continued to demonstrate against al-Assad, Russia, and Iran and to condemn the international inaction. This all happened without Raed Fares and his colleague because they were buried under the ground after they left a legacy and archive that contains projects and ideas to promote public freedoms, democracy, gender equality, and protecting civilians and displaced persons.

In his “resistant” town which faced the conflicting parties, Kafr Nabl, Fares direct his activities in development and education, and was determined to continue broadcasting from Kafr Nabl which was controlled by “Al-Nusra Front” which later changed their name to “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham”.

It has been two years since the assassination, Raed and Hammoud’s blood was wasted without investigations, conducting a trial, or even gathering pieces of evidence to determine the identity of the murderers who are scot-free living their lives among their children and relatives, while Raed’s grieving family, who fled to France, and his children who lost their father have hopes that justice will be served one day.

Although the assassination took place without revealing the identities of the murderers and without holding anyone accountable, we will reveal, in this investigation, the most prominent legal paths that should be taken to hold the perpetrators accountable during the period of transitional justice, in addition to the conditions and basics that should be available for this process to be done according to experts and human rights activists who followed the case closely, among testimonies and pieces of evidence gathered by human rights organizations which indicates that “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” is behind this assassination, although it denies that.

Activating accountability and serving justice to Raed will act as a support and shield for the rest of the journalists and activists who still work in Idlib, its country, Syria and other dangerous geographical areas after Syria ranked second in the “Committee to Protect Journalists” global index of impunity for the year 2020, Which sheds light on countries where journalists are killed while the killers remain free.

In another global ranking done by Reporters Without Borders in April 2019 on journalism freedom for 2019 entitled “The Fear Machine Is Working at Its Maximum Capacity,” which included 180 countries, Syria ranked 174 after being ranked among the most dangerous areas for journalists where the Syrian regime and radicals are racing to suppress journalism freedom and to murder journalists.

For its part, the Syrian Network for Human Rights, an independent human rights organization, documented the murder of 707 journalists since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in March 2011, including six women, nine foreign journalists, and 52 were killed under torture, in addition to 1563 injuries of varying degrees at the hands of the conflict parties.

551 journalists, including a woman and 5 foreigners, were killed at the hands of the regime forces, while the Russian raids claimed the lives of 22 journalists.

During the same period, 64 journalists were killed by ISIS, and another 4 were killed by “YPD-PKK”, while 33 journalists were killed at the hands of armed groups opposing the regime. The attacks of the international coalition against “ISIS” resulted in the killing of a journalist, in addition to the killing of 32 others by unknown gunfire.

Whereas, the country witnessed at least 1.169 cases of arrest and kidnapping of journalists, and about 422 persons (Including 3 women and 17 foreign journalists) are still arrested or forcibly disappeared. Moreover, the Syrian regime is still detaining 353 journalists, including 2 women and 4 foreign journalists.

Threats and Attempted Assassinations

As soon as Al-Nusra Front consolidated its grip on Kafr Nabl and all of Idlib and seized it from the Syrian Regime forces in late 2012, the activists and journalists started bearing the brunt of the threats, harassment, and restrictions on media freedom.

On December 30, 2014, elements of Al-Nusra Front struck a military cordon around the headquarters of Radio Fresh, and the military squads and a big bus cordoned the area.

Ali al-Dandoush (23 years old), the witness who survived the assassination attempt, was working in the radio station at the time in the (audio mixing). He was terrified and could not believe what was happening. “A minor fighter (under the legal age of 18 years) from Al-Nusra Front entered the headquarters, with a copy of a newspaper that published a fictional picture of the Prophet Muhammad, thinking that the paper was ours. He exchanged a few words with the other fighters about whether they would kill us in the headquarters or not? But when we provided the evidence that we had nothing to do with the newspaper that published the cartoons, they left and departed.

It did not end here, it even repeated in another incident of the raid on the same broadcast station, but this time the attack was more brutal with the workers and officials there, according to the witness, specifically on January 17, 2015, and ended up with the arrest of Fares himself.

“We were in the office about 5:30 a.m.” he added, “and all of a sudden, the fighters of Al-Nusra Front raided the station’s headquarters and locked me, Raed, and another person in a room. While we were there, we heard the sounds of smashing the broadcast equipment, and then they opened the door and ordered us to leave, but they arrested Raed and after a while they released him,’ explained al-Dandoush.

The third time was on December 10, 2016 when they arrested Fares in Ma’arrat al-Numan district, southern Idlib, for 48 hours, during which he was tortured in a (Shabeh) method for six hours to force him to unlock his mobile phone which he refused until his relatives found out about his detention place and exerted pressure to have him released, according to his son Mahmoud al-Fares.

The reasons behind the detention of al-Fares included the post he published on Facebook addressing “The Nation of Iqraa,” in which he harshly criticized customs and traditions, calling for laying the foundations of science and humanity, which Al-Nusra deemed contrary to Shari’ah as provided in the Agreement that included the terms on which al-Fares would be released and was published later after the Agreement was concluded and signed by Hadi Al-Abdullah (a friend of Raed) and someone called Abu Khalil the Emir of Al-Nusra Front in Kafr Nabl.

“We knew that the arrest and the raid took place because the broadcast aired songs and music and allowed the voices of women broadcasters. Consequently, the demonstrations were staged in the city calling for the release of Raed, and this was after journalist Hadi al-Abdullah pledged not to broadcast music again,” says Mahmoud, Raed’s son.

Indeed, Fares tried to cope with the restrictions that were gradually growing after canceling the broadcast of songs on the radio, and replacing the music of the news bulletin with the chirping of birds. Moreover, the voices of the women broadcasters were amplified through sound mixing programs and techniques.

According to lawyer Yasser Al-Saleem, France-based, who was an old friend of Raed al-Fares since childhood, the threats to Raed came from Al-Nusra Front directly because of the radio and songs broadcasting, and because of the secular orientation he adopted.

In May 2018, the United States announced the enlisting of Tahrir al-Sham among the terrorist organizations, after it changed its name from (Al-Nusra Front) to Tahrir al-Sham in January 2017, to “reinforce its position in the Syrian war and achieve other goals, In the context of its relations with Al-Qaeda”. 

Before the “Tahrir al-Sham” took control of Kafr Nabl, ISIS controlled it for a while in 2014, during which ISIS tried to assassinate Raed. One night when he was returning home at midnight, one of the ISIS elements shot him, and he was injured with three bullets in his shoulder and chest and was transferred to the United States to receive his medical treatment.

Al-Fares worked his way in Kafr Nabl by attracting the youth of the district and other Syrian cities to participate in the launch of the Radio Fresh.

However, with the accelerating pace of events in Syria, the continued momentum of public demonstrations calling for change, and the emergence of Islamic factions, al-Fares found himself fighting on both fronts in this town, he was overwhelmed and confined between the military raids of the Al-Assad Regime Forces, which he first revolted against, and the restrictions of hardliner Islamic militant groups that is growing, such as ISIS and Al-Nusra Front ( Tahrir al-Sham), (the face of al-Qaeda in Syria)

From the very beginning, al-Fares challenged the version of Bashar Al-Assad Regime, in his paintings and his ability to influence others. He mocked the International Community’s inaction to put an end to the massacre of the Syrians, which he made his first priority to face the authoritarian regime represented by Al-Assad and the hardliners) in defense of the people.

“He has a different character and a different opinion, and he has characters and governments who support his cause in freedoms, so Raed was not an easy number in the region.”

Meanwhile, al-Fares consolidated his efforts by taking them to the streets and squares even more. He was back to voice his call from his mountain city that the Syrians are living between the two faces of terrorism (the Syrian Regime and the extremists,) which he signified in a famous sign that read: “In fact, the Syrians are the victims of two forms of terrorism, one from Al-Assad’s terror, and the other from the terror of ISIS and other extremists.”

Among the famous signs he wrote in red and held in his hands, was one that read, “There are two opposing parties: The people who are trying to survive, and the regime that is trying to quash them.”

Raed’s peaceful movement was also associated with Radio Fresh, and it was one of the reasons for which he was the target of death threats as he adopted a liberal ideology and a different approach from the prevailing approach and the extremist religious ideology.

Bassam Alahmad, the Director of the Syrians for Truth and Justice Organization confirmed that al-Fares was not like other media professionals who would buy the account of the dominant parties, and perhaps take their side, but he rather introduced a different project and different opinions from the account told in the areas of the Salvation Government (A service arm of Tahrir al-Sham In Idlib), and was challenging her official account.

“He had a different personality and a different opinion, and had prominent personalities and governments that supported his case in freedoms that is why he was a very significant figure in the region,” he added.

What Happened on the Black Day?

Ali al-Dandoush started working in Radio Fresh in 2014, and he soon built a deep relationship with Raed Fares and the rest of the radio staff, so much that they were practically living in the radio headquarters.

Fortunately, al-Dandoush miraculously survived the assassination on November 22, 2018. Al-Dandoush gave us an account of what happened, “A day before the assassination, Raed was spending the evening with his cousins and friends, and each of them later went home… At the time, Raed used to go home for a few hours to spend time with his family and then head to the radio headquarters to spend the night. That night, he asked me to give him a ride home on the motorcycle, around 1 a.m., which I did.”

“Three hours later, Raed called me asking me to give him another ride to the office,” al-Dandoush added.

At dawn, they both decided to sleep over at the office. They carefully locked the doors and went to sleep.

The next day, November 23, both men woke up at noon. Hammoud Junaid joined them, and they decided to go on a retreat to Kafr Nabl mountains to dine with other friends.

The three of them (Hammoud, Ali, and Raed) drove in the direction of a side road leading to Raed’s cousin’s house, as he was supposed to join them on the trip.

At that time, most townspeople were praying al-Juma’a (Friday) Prayer, and it was a weekend, thus there was barely any traffic.

“Raed was driving, Hammoud was sitting next to him, while I was in the back seat. We passed the grand mosque on a road leading to Raed’s cousin’s house. A closed gray Hyundai Starex passed near us. Upon reaching the house of Raed’s cousin, the closed car suddenly advanced and stopped right beside us,” said al-Dandoush.

“The closed car stopped to our left, and that’s the last thing I saw. Windows were opened, and a 5.5 rifle appeared. The shooters were not masked, however, I could not observe their faces,” he added.

“I lowered my head and hid for a few seconds while we were under fire. The shooting finally stopped and the car left. I raised my head to find Raed lying on his seat, while Hammoud was not in his place, I thought he managed to escape, but later found out that he opened the door and tried to escape but was shot. Raed took two bullets in his thighs and a bullet in his waist, and another in his underarm area, close to his heart. As for me, a bullet penetrated my coat near the head,” he continued. They were taken to the hospital.

I raised my head and found Raed lying on his seat, and I didn’t find Hammoud in his seat, so I thought that he managed to escape, but I discovered later that he had opened the door and tried to but was injured in the process.Raed was hit by two bullets in the thigh.

After the ‘accident,’ members of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) arrived at the scene and talked to Raed Fares’ son, told him they would open an investigation, and left without taking any action.

The nearest HTS checkpoint was only one kilometer away from the scene of assassination, there were also other HTS checkpoint situated on Kafr Nabl’s northern and western exits, while there were no such checkpoints on neither the eastern nor the southern exits, which suggests that the perpetrators drove through them, especially the eastern exit, towards downtown.

In a report that included showing and exposing initial leads and investigations into the assassination, published on November 28, 2018, Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) pointed out that “the gunmen retreated immediately after the operation which was planned to coincide with the Friday prayers, knowing that most residents would be at the mosques performing the weekly prayer, which facilitated the assassins’ movements, and helped them to pull off their terrorist act without being identified or recognized by people.”

After the assassination, Radio Fresh’s future is now in jeopardy, especially since the keystaff’s financial support has stopped for six whole months. Broadcasting resumed later, after the team changed headquarters and moved to another city.

“Work is still going on after Raed’s murder, but organizations stopped funding us for six months. Despite the difficulties we faced due to losing Raed, we managed to overcome this adversity and move on, believing in Raed’s saying: “Radio Fresh is an idea, and ideas never die,” said Mahmoud Raslan, radio’s current CEO.

Imminent Danger

Both Ali al-Dandoush (the surviving witness) and Mahmoud Fares (Raed’s son) agree that the three months preceding the assassination were the “most dangerous,” as during these months, Raed sensed a real danger to his life, due to obtaining leaks of people from HTS; indicating that they wanted him killed. This led him to tell his son, Mahmoud, about these threats and how serious they were, and emphasized that if something were to happen to him, it would be HTS’ doing.

In September 2018, large weekly demonstrations were resumed in Kafr Nabl, coordinated by a number of people in town, led by Raed. During one of these demonstrations, HTS members ran through the crowd with two military vehicles and raised HTS black flags, leading to altercations between both parties, and resulting in arresting the lawyer Yasser al-Saleem.

At that time, Raed started to sense danger, and stopped spending the nights at home or even at the radio’s headquarters, instead, he stayed at a friend’s house in a nearby village.

Evidence That the Assassination Was Planned

The investigation team met with four witnesses and heard their testimonies, including those of the only survivor (Ali) and Raed Fares’ son (Mahmoud). The team also examined informed human rights reports suspecting HTS’ direct involvement in the assassination.

Mahmoud Fares lays a number of incidents as foundation to his narrative of HTS’ responsibility for his father’s assassination, saying that “a week before my father was assassinated, I was working at the radio, my father called me and told me to go to the headquarters. He told me that during the past week, he had received direct threats, and that it was now worse than ever. He asked me to be careful because the threats were strong, dangerous, and serious.”

“My father told me that if something happened to him, no one but HTS would be responsible,” he continued.

His father told him that he confided in two other close acquaintances who still reside in Kafr Nabl to this day, and told them that HTS would be responsible for anything bad that happens to him, and told them that “HTS wants my head, if something bad happened to me, do not say ‘he was killed by anonymous people,’ and do not say ‘we’re not sure who killed him.’ I don’t have any other enemies within or outside of Syria.”

Mahmoud Fares quotes a relative who told him about a meeting with an HTS leader in Kafr Nabl the morning after the assassination, saying “right after the assassination, one of our acquaintances met with an HTS leader in Kafr Nabl. They were talking about Hammoud Junaid’s murder, and the leader said that Junaid deserved to ‘die’ because he was with Raed Fares.”

Among the facts on which the son based to prove his story is that the area was completely under the control of Tahrir al-Sham organization and that no evidence was found by the surveillance cameras installed in the streets, showing the passage of the closed gray car that assassinated his father and his colleague, so the assassins know the roads of Kafr Nabl well, as well as the places where the cameras are installed, so they were able to hide the evidence.

“The decision to assassinate my father has not been taken by an individual as no one in the organization can take such a decision and bear its consequences. Rather it requires the approval of al-Joulani himself, and needs to be planned and other consequences that may not be taken into consideration,” he said.The son’s account is identical to that of the assassination survivor Ali al-Dandosh, because the entire region is under the control of the ‘Tahrir Al-Sham’ faction, so that wherever the car carrying the perpetrators went after the operation it would pass through HTS military checkpoints. “So I am sure they assassinated him,” he says.

He supports his narrative by saying: “They did not ask me what happened, they did not take the car information from me, and they did not open an investigation even though all evidence was available at that time”.

Bassam al-Ahmad, the Director of the Syrians for Truth and Justice organization, which issued a detailed report about the incident, commented by saying: “During documenting the assassination, we noticed that whoever executed the assassination was very comfortable in controling the area. He was not at all scared of being held accountable, he also studied the city very well, so he probably is one of its residents, and not a stranger or a visitor, as he seems to be well acquainted with its streets.”

Evading Accountability!

Days after the accident, all the clues pointed towards Tahrir Al-Sham Organization, which issued a statement through its official agency “Ibaa”, saying that there were “parties supporting the counter-revolutions trying to get them involved in the assassination”.

The statement entitled “A Crime in a Region Aiming to Involve the Authority” claimed that “the murder of Fares and al-Junaid coincided with “a systematic campaign led by some networks of suspicous purpose and funding, as they spread a huge amount of lies to undermine the stability of the liberated north and try to cause a rift between the Mujahideen and their supporters”.

In an endeavour to understand why an official investigation has not been conducted, the investigation team communicated with the Minister of Justice of the Syrian interim government, Abdullah Abdul-Salam, who confirmed that the interim government does not control the area and cannot enter it in the first place.

“We have no control over the area where the assassination took place, and we cannot even reach that area because this will cause problems with the Salvation Government,” said Abdul-Salam.

He added: “There is no contact between us and the Salvation Government (a service arm, and a government supporting Tahrir Al-Sham Organization), and the assassination took place in areas controlled by “Salvation” and we do not have access to the area or know anything about the incident”.

The “Salvation Government” was formed on November 2, 2017, in the areas under the control of “Tahrir al-Sham” in Idlib and Reef Halab, and a week after its formation, the organization handed overall service facilities to it, which confirms the link between the two sides, but the “Salvation” denies that it is a civil arm for “Tahrir al-Sham” despite all evidence of this relationship.

Our team also contacted the media office of the Salvation Government to understand why they have not started an investigation in this incident. In the beginning, they were responsive, but when they knew our report was about the assassination of Raed Al-Faris they stopped responding to our messages.

Al-Ahmad considers that the absence of an investigation into the case is due to the fact that the salvation government does not want to carry out this investigation, or has orders from its military wing, which may be involved, not to start an investigation into the case. If there were any intentions to start investigating, whether from the salvation government or the interim government, that would have happened.

The Judicial Path and Accountability. Where Is The Case Now?

Searching for the possibility of promoting the prevention of impunity for crimes against journalists through fair trials, or the formation of a court similar to the one that prosecutes war criminals even after a while, Fadl Abdel Ghani, director of the Syrian Human Rights Network, said, in an interview with the report team, that “Achieving justice through the judicial system in the death of Fares is essential, although it may take a long time, up to ten years, but there are other tracks to achieve what it calls “Urgent accountability” for the perpetrators, which is achieved through the societal rejection of the one accused of the assassination, as well as those dealing with them boycotting them, i.e.the Syrian military factions and fighters and their supporters.

“All of them have to boycott the organization, as a result of the criminal act it has committed, as well as impose a blockade on it economically and politically, and expose this crime,” he says.

He referred to the role of the press in talking about the crime and revealing its circumstances, which is also part of the accountability.

As for international justice, it is available according to the international jurisdiction, but it needs an effort and action to gather evidence and present it to the public prosecution, after which the prosecution accepts it, and a number of extremist factions are held accountable using universal jurisdiction. According to Abdul-Ghani, “this is a long path and can result in holding one or two people accountable”.

The Syrian Human Rights Network suggested that Tahrir Al-Sham was behind the assassination of media activists based on analysis of evidence and information, and on testimonies from the region. In turn, the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of expression, which is directly involved in the litigation of crimes against journalists, Yara Badr, the Center’s media freedom director, says that no criminal responsibility has been established at the legal level, allowing for procedural judicial steps to be taken, because no independent investigation was conducted into the death of the al-Faris.

The Center, which is currently active in the areas of preventing impunity for crimes against journalists, focuses on Syria and on the most dangerous countries for journalists such as Mexico, Iraq and Colombia. They filed a lawsuit in the case of the murder of American journalist Mary Colvin in targeting the Baba Amr Media Center in Homs in February 2012, and the murder of the French military photographer, Remy Oschlick.

Badr adds, “In partnership with international organizations at the level of UN mechanisms, they work to improve the legislation to guarantee freedom of expression, and they press for the approval of the international badge of journalists”.

According to lawyer Yasser Al-Salim, who was once imprisoned in the notorious Iqab prison (in the western part of Idlib and is used today as a prison and a security investigation branch for Tahrir al-Sham): “The killers did not leave behind any concrete evidence, and the party controlling the region is still the same. Who will investigate?” asked the man who left Syria fearing for his life due his critical opinions.

“None of the perpetrators can be prosecuted until the situation stabilizes and the organization’s control over the region ends,” he says.

Bassam al-Ahmad agrees that “in these circumstances, it is impossible to bring justice to the case, and even if there is a trial, it will be unfair or incomplete, because there is no independent and impartial judiciary, within the Salvation government and the Tahrir al-Sham organization.”

But “the inquiry committees and the neutral international mechanism can collect information about the case in order to prepare for a future judicial track,” he added.

Al-Ahmad concludes by inviting the victims’ families, and witnesses as well, to keep documents, facts and evidence in their possession, waiting for the disclosure of specific information or the ability to conduct a trial.

The post Syria: Two Years Since Raed Fares’ Assassination, but his Murderers Remain Anonymous appeared first on SIRAJ.

Asa’ad and his daughter were able to cross the border for free healthcare months ago, under authorization from the Turkish government. According to figures issued by authorities from the Syrian crossing, more than 500 patients entered Turkey to receive treatment last February.

That was until the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) accelerated, prompting the Turkish government to cut off their lifeline in mid March, just three days after Ankara confirmed its first case and two weeks before Damascus declared the appearance of its first confirmed cases.

Doctors in the Idlib governorate have stated that since mid-March only a handful of high-risk emergency cases were allowed entry into Turkey, amidst an increasing number of cases in both countries. Patients suffering from cancer and other chronic illnesses are not among them.

For the time being, Marah, along with hundreds of other patients, remains stranded and unable to receive life-saving treatment.

As Asa’ad carries his ailing child on his forearm, she rests her head on his shoulder to whisper unintelligible words. His eyes fill with tears as he says, “She has jaw cancer and as the tumor grows, her pain grows with it. These days she cannot even sleep from the agonizing pain, despite taking all types of painkillers. My daughter needs treatment. Please, Lord, don’t forsake us.”

Due to lack of treatment in north Syria, doctors have unanimously agreed on the necessity for Marah to head to Turkey for medical care, says the family, but she remains until this day stranded at the border.

With the continued spread of the Coronavirus and the accompanying restrictions against Syrians along the Syrian-Turkish border, this investigation explores the plight of those suffering from cancer and other chronic diseases as they await their turn to enter Turkey.

400 Cancer Patients Await Reprieve

The Idlib Health Directorate describes the scale of the suffering cancer patients are facing in northern Syria, amidst increasingly poor medical care in the region. Issues hindering access to treatment include acute shortages of medicine, equipment, and working medical facilities, not to mention the rising costs of the few available treatment drugs left in the area. Such difficulties prompted patients to enter Turkey through the Bab Al Hawa Border Crossing, after obtaining a medical referral from the health directorate.

On the 13th of March, the Bab Al Hawa Border Crossing announced its closure towards ‘cold case’ patients – the Arabic term that encompasses chronic illness such as cancer and heart disease – and travellers. The crossing remained closed to cancer patients until the first of June, after which authorities allowed the entry of only 5 patients a day for treatment in Turkey, following coordination between the crossing administration and Turkish authorities.

Barely a week had passed before the border pass was once again closed off, an act prompted by a number of reported Coronavirus cases in north Syria. The crossing was reopened later on, under strict requirements for patients to adhere to safety measures against the virus.

According to Doctor Mohammad al-Salam working at Bab Al Hawa Hospital, the repeated closure led to a rise in critical cases among ‘cold case’ patients.

Mazen Alloush, the director of the Office of Public Relations and Information at the crossing, has revealed that over 400 cancer patients have been waiting their turn to enter Turkey for weeks, aside from the dozens that haven’t applied in the first place. Alloush also stressed that the majority of patients need entry as soon as possible due to mounting critical cases.

As a result of recent restrictions, the medical state of Maram al-Sayyed, 45, is in rapid deterioration. This is the third consecutive time she has not been allowed to cross into Turkey for treatment, even though her 8-month-old Leukemia condition has reached well into its advanced stages.

She takes several minutes to gather her strength to speak, “I am exhausted; the disease has been eating away at my body for some time, and I am getting worse. I cannot go to government-held hospitals where people are getting arrested, while Turkey here closes the crossing. What do I do as this cancer ravages my body?”

Maram is receiving pain medication as well as up to two blood transfusions per day at the Idlib Central Hospital, to no avail.

It is up to hospitals and health centers in the liberated north to work with aid agencies to secure medication for the time being, until the rest of the cases are transferred to Turkey for the appropriate treatment.

With spread of COVID-19, the Turkish government cut off the lifeline to Syrian cancer patients seeking treatment by mid March; Three days after Ankara confirmed its first case and two weeks before Damascus declared the appearance of its first cases

“The man’s attempts to enter his cancer-afflicted daughter into Turkish territory to receive the necessary treatment have yielded no results despite putting in several applications to gain entry… For the time being, Marah, along with hundreds of other patients, remains stranded and unable to receive life-saving treatment.”

Idlib opposition Health Director Dr. Monzer Khalil describes the damages done to health facilities in northwest Syria by stating, “The regime has targeted more than 75 medical centers from April 2019 until today. Government forces advancing on and taking areas from the northern rural Hamah to the Southern rural Idlib, have caused the facilities’ closure.” He went on to point out, “Acute shortages of specialized medical staff also cannot match patient numbers. There is also a shortage in medical equipment such as MRIs, CT scans, and many others.”

Delay Leads to Death

Weeks ago, Yousef Barbour, 22, passed away due to delays in entering Turkey to receive treatment, despite the repeated appeals of his mother. The young man had needed a bone marrow transplant.

Such amounts of increased suffering prompted Syrian humanitarian actors to call on Turkish authorities to find some way to admit critical cases for medical care in their hospitals. However, the crossing remains closed.

A 3-year lung cancer patient, Salem al-Ahmad, 50, had been lucky enough to enter Turkish hospitals for treatment earlier. He says, “Things were much simpler then; Turkish doctors at the border crossing would not reject cancer patients, who were considered priority cases. What used to be over 100 cases admitted per day became just five cases, and this led to the deprivation of many patients’ early treatment.”

Mazen al-Saud, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the Free Aleppo University and former director of Doctors Without Borders hospital in Ma’arat al-Nu’man, comments, “The lack of radiotherapy in the Idlib Governorate is a major obstacle for cancer patients there, since chemotherapy is often ineffective, with the tumor reappearing more aggressively in other areas in the body.”

He adds that the number of cancer patients in the Idlib region has multiplied by 10 percent than in previous years, specifically breast cancer for women and lung, colon, and stomach cancer for men.

The WHO stated in an earlier report that cancer in Syria is 3rd among the 10 main fatal illnesses, with cases expected to further rise amidst damaged hospitals left unavailable for use.

According to the report, around 25,000 cancer patients require treatment every year, including a staggering 2,500 below the age of 15 years suffering from leukemia and lymphoma.

Within the camps of Tal Alkarama in the Harem District north of Syria, Monaf Mohammad al-Saleh, 11, suffers from speech impairment, an amputation in his left leg, and deformed fingers, along with a hazardous lack of sensation.

Monaf was hit by rocket shrapnel from Russian air raids as he played outside his home in Sarha in eastern Hama. Doctors say his leg suffered from a bacterial infection that reached the bone and left dead tissue in its wake.

His father says, “We couldn’t find him treatment. In addition to the financial situation and lack of good hospitals, he hasn’t been able to receive the proper treatment yet. He needs to enter Turkey as soon as possible. Sadly, the closed border due to the Coronavirus is endangering his life, keeping in mind that the chances of him recovering and benefiting from his treatment lessens as time passes.”

After Syrian government forces entered the village of Sarha, Monaf’s family fled to camps in northern rural Idlib. Doctors were forced to amputate the infected leg after the boy’s condition deteriorated due to lack of proper health requirements. He later got an infection on his tongue from unknown causes.

The father recounts, “It became hard for him to speak and talk. He also lost sensation in his body and couldn’t feel heat or cold or fire.”

Weapons Residues

Among the reasons for the recent spike in cancer cases in Syria, Dr. Hind, a research oncologist at the Idlib province, lists three: there has been a spread of kidney infections and liver diseases that – when left untreated – can become precursors to cancer; poor food quality and the consumption of expired goods; as well as the drastic “loss of hospitals, medical equipment and personnel that impedes routine checkups and, thus, lowers chances for early detection and diagnosis.”

The rise in cancer rates was a foreseen consequence in liberated areas, however, where toxic chemicals, heavy weaponry, rampant destruction, and environmental pollution are widespread remnants of the war.

To that extent, Dr. Ayham al-Ahmad posits the higher cancers rates in liberated areas as a result of the heavy presence of toxic and oxidized weapons, as well as the overall lack of environmental hygiene and cleanliness in these areas – all of which encourage viral and bacterial infections that act as catalysts for the development of cancerous tumors.

 His eyes fill with tears as he says, “She has jaw cancer and as the tumor grows, her pain grows with it”

Moreover, the entirety of northwest Syria suffers a shortage of cancer treatment medications, compelling patients to make the journey south towards regime-controlled areas, where treatment is more available. With its gruesome roads, many checkpoints, and costly travel expenses, however, the lengthy trips are exhaustive to both the patients’ health and their pockets.

Faisal, 43, lives with his wife and nine children in a tent at one of the many makeshift camps sprung along the Syrian-Turkish border. Six months ago, he was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor and has since not been able to get treated owing to the dilapidation of medical facilities in the Idlib province and the unfeasibility of obtaining medicine from Turkey after the shutdown of its borders.

Faisal outright refuses to go to Damascus, where he is adamant that regime forces detained two of his brothers for aiding the Syrian revolution. According to him, one of his brothers was murdered and the other disappeared not long after.

“The Turkish medical team refused to let her pass despite all our appeals, saying she is a non-emergency ‘cold case’… The delay in her treatment can lead to the growth and spread of the tumor, deteriorating her already worsening state.”

As his health deteriorated with the growth of the brain tumor, the imperative to find medication grew more urgent, and Faisal turned to charity-based pharmacies for help. Alas, to no avail.

The Turkish medical team refused to let her pass despite all our appeals, saying she is a non-emergency ‘cold case’… The delay in her treatment can lead to the growth and spread of the tumor, deteriorating her already worsening state

A doctor working at the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) office in the Turkish city of Gaziantep notes, “The SAMS center in Idlib is the only place offering treatment for breast cancer, lymphatic cancer and colon cancer in the entire province. The treatments are free and available to all, but due to the center’s lack of funding and the restrictions set on the import of certain drugs, about a third of our patients are forced to buy their medication from local drug stores run by the clinic.

Not everyone is able to procure their treatment, and the center isn’t able to treat everyone. We used to move more critical patients, like those suffering from leukemia or brain cancer, to Turkey for treatment, but that all halted with the coronavirus pandemic.”

Deteriorating Health Conditions

In the city of Ma’arrat Misrin north of Idlib, Ru’aa al-Ali, an 8-year-old brain tumor patient, hasn’t been able to enter Turkish territories for treatment despite best efforts, as Turkey continues to cut-off access to its border passes with Syria due to the ongoing pandemic.

Her mother says Ru’aa was diagnosed a year ago and underwent a 3-month-long treatment in Turkey. She returned to rural Idlib after her condition stabilized, however, “her state has worsened recently and she needs radiotherapy, which is unavailable here.”

The distraught mother goes on to say, “The Turkish medical team refused to let her pass despite all our appeals, saying she is a non-emergency ‘cold case’… The delay in her treatment can lead to the growth and spread of the tumor, deteriorating her already worsening state.”

Turkish authorities in the border crossing could not be reached for comment, while the head of a Turkish-run medical center in rural Aleppo declined to comment on the halt of medical transfers regarding both cancer and chronic disease patients.

With the continued closure of the border pass amidst the ongoing pandemic and the number of those suffering from chronic illnesses continuing to grow, the fate of more than 400 cancer patients denied access to treatment, remains pending.

This investigation was carried out under the supervision of the ‘Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism‎ (SIRAJ)’ and the support of the ‘International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)’, as well as the Facebook Journalism Project, published on Raseef22

The post With Bab Al Hawa Border Closed, Syrians Are Deprived of Cancer Treatment appeared first on SIRAJ.

On a video call, Maryam narrates the details of her daily routine that has remained unchanged in the times of COVID-19.

She wakes up everyday at dawn before waking the rest of her family, to start preparing for work. Collectively, the family starts preparing food in large quantities sufficient for everyone.

Around 1,000 refugees live in the Ahl al Qur’an camp, and after the recent wave of displacement, the number has increased, according to the camp’s director, Muhammad Sheikh Ismail.

“Here, social distancing and preventive measures recommended by the World Health Organization and other associations are not possible,” he said.

“There are no health or service facilities in the camps, and the number of tents is simply not sufficient for the number of people. Consequently, social distancing and self-isolation is not possible.”

“In each tent (two meters wide and three meters long), there are at least five people who share food and drink, while each section (consisting of 40 tents) has a total of six toilets; three for men and three for women,” Ismail said.

Despite the ongoing threat of the virus, residents felt reassured due to the blockade imposed by the Syrian government, and the Turkish government’s closure of three land crossings: Bab al-Hawa, Safety door, and Jarablos.

Airports and other ports have also been relatively empty since the area’s first recorded case.

However, the severity of the situation evolved after July 9 when the first cases were recorded at Bab Al-Hawa hospital, specifically, in a Syrian doctor who recently moved to Turkey.

There was great fear and concern that the cases would continue to spread due to the absence of preventive measures.

A study carried out by the Medicare Health Foundation, in cooperation with the health directorates in northern Syria, set out to assess the number of potential coronavirus cases, and found that the possibility for widespread infection is extremely high if necessary precautions are not taken.

The study indicated that in the first six weeks, cases may reach up to 240,000 (which represent 20% of the internally displaced population), of which 36,000 would be severe, 12,000 would be critical and 14,328 would be fatal.

These areas mostly rely on preventive measures implemented and funded by civil societies and organizations that are already limited in their capabilities and resources.

Director of Latakia (with jurisdiction over the Ahl al-Qur’an Camp) in the Syrian Civil Defense, Muhammad Haji Asaad, sheds light on some of the preventive measures that have been implemented.

“From late April to early September we sterilized 115 camps distributed from Al-Zouf to the village of Badama, including the Ahl al Qur’an camp.

We also sterilized approximately 22 villages in the western countryside of Idlib, and targeted areas with high population densities,” he said.

Dr. Mahmoud al-Hariri, the director of the health information unit in northern Syria (including Hama, Aleppo, the Sahel and Idlib) who works directly with the WHO, told ARIJ that, “[Until September], we only had one laboratory in Idlib equipped with tools for analyzing samples.

It was proposed to equip two new laboratories; one in the city of Jarablus [northeast of Aleppo] and the second in the city of Afrin [north of Aleppo]. Some of the equipment has arrived, albeit late, and included 6,0000 analysis kits and tests, which will be activated very soon.”

Dr. Muhammad Al-Salem, director of the vaccine program and member of the Early Warning and Epidemic Response Network, says that “1,390 tests were conducted for suspected cases by the end of June, all of which were negative.”

According to Al-Salem, the lab in Idlib analyses results from various areas and is not restricted to the governorate alone. Samples collected from Deir Ezzor, Raqqa, Aleppo and Hasaka were analyzed in Idlib, he told ARIJ.

The ACU runs the only laboratory in the opposition-controlled areas of northern Syria. According to Al-Salem, the protocol for positive tests is as follows: in the event of a positive result, a second swab is taken from the potential patient and transferred to Turkey for confirmation.

The confirmation is typically provided 24 hours after the test is conducted. As for the hospitals directly supported by Turkey and located in the northern and northeastern countryside of Aleppo, samples are collected there and then sent to Turkey.

Just two days after the first COVID-19 case was recorded in opposition-controlled areas,  specifically on July 11, the Ministry of Health of Syria’s interim government announced that the number of cases had risen to three – two of which belonged to doctors working in the Azaz City Hospital who had recently entered from Turkey.

As of 23 July, the number of confirmed cases had risen to 22 out of 3,111 tested, according to Dr. M. Ram Al-Sheikh.

On September 5, the Early Warning Network announced an additional 14 recorded cases — the highest since the pandemic reached the north, bringing the total number of cases to 112.

The accelerated rate at which COVID-19 cases were being recorded, only increased fears in light of already extremely difficult living conditions.

An Exhausted Medical Sector

“Currently, Northern Syria does not have a unified health system, and only a few limited health institutions are operating at maximum capacity to fulfil the needs of more than 4 million people in an unstable and unprepared area,” says Dr. Yasser Najeeb, Executive Director of an Immunization Group in Syria.

The group consists of a medical team that provides vaccines for children under the supervision of the WHO, and is one of several working to tackle the crisis in northern Syria, with support from the WHO.

The ARIJ reporter attempted to contact Dr. Munther Khalil, the Director of the Idlib Health Directorate and responsible for coordinating medical support in the governorate, who did not respond.

Al-Salem describes the medical sector as “exhausted”.

“In northern Syria, there are only 600 doctors serving over 4 million people, a third of which live in overcrowded camps on the border with Turkey. We need at least four times the current number of doctors, and qualified laboratory technicians are very rare. Moreover, the infrastructure has been completely destroyed, and most of the hospitals currently operating are relatively rudimentary,” he told ARIJ.

Dr. Mahmoud Al-Hariri added that, “we fear there will be a great number of casualties among medical staff. As of September 8, we recorded 10 cases among the medical teams, which forced them to remain in isolation for 15 days. For us, it is a big problem for a doctor to be absent throughout this period in light of their scarcity.”

There are only 90-100 respirators available in the entire northern region of Syria, which are meant to serve 4 million people in normal conditions, excluding the pandemic and warzones. Of the total number of respirators, 80 to 85 devices are already being used around the clock, according to Al-Salem, leaving only a few devices available.

In its 2019 annual report, the Syrian Network for Human Rights documented the death of 26 medical personnel and a total of 98 attacks on medical facilities in that year alone. The attacks were also confirmed in a report by Physicians for Human Rights, which recorded 595 attempted attacks on 350 separate medical facilities, with a death toll of 923 medical workers between March 2011 and February 2020.

According to Dr. Hariri, the WHO has formed a working group, under its direct supervision, for local organizations to confront the pandemic since March.

The group operates in coordination with health directorates, and has a budget of $64 million for a period of six months.

Al-Salem also indicated that Global Health provides safety equipment for workers in the medical sector, and more is scheduled to be sent in the coming period. It has also provided both online and in person training for medical personnel.

“Only four quarantine centers were equipped out of 30. Additionally, just four out of nine hospitals were equipped according to the medical plan initially drafted by medical organizations, with the support of the WHO, to confront the virus,” Al-Salem added.

Local Organizations

According to Mustafa Al-Hassan, the Protection Coordinator at the Sadad Humanitarian organization, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) allocated $11 million to support response projects, increase hygiene in the camps and support the water and health sector.

It later announced a $75 million grant that would be allocated to organizations, subject to the OCHA’s approval, and according to their projects and plans. These funding figures have been confirmed and matched by three independent sources, but have not been published by the OCHA itself.

For Al-Hassan, “the problem is that most of the organizations working in the humanitarian field in northern Syria are not committed to pandemic prevention measures, and only a few are implementing the appropriate safety and awareness measures amongst their staff.”

Dr. Hariri insists that “no health system is capable of confronting the pandemic without a societal commitment to preventive measures, which is why it is imperative to equip hospitals and isolation centers.

For example, the cost of equipping an intensive care bed can reach up to $13,000 while the cost of a mask is less than half a dollar, and it provides a large amount of protection and largely reduces the risk of infection.”

“However,” he continued, “the majority of the public does not comply with these simple preventative measures. We have even spotted some health sector workers who are not committed to wearing masks.”

The ARIJ reporter found numerous instances of aid organizations not adhering to minimal preventative measures, such as masks.

Beyond the social media accounts of these organizations, which show staff in masks and adhering to the minimal standards, most of the fieldwork is conducted without the necessary health and safety precautions.

Director of the Maram Relief and Development Organization, Yaqzan al-Shishakli, indicated that since last April, his organization has established an isolation and quarantine center in the village of Sheikh Bahr in the countryside of Idlib.

The center provides services to those affected by COVID-19 in a well-equipped arena, to ensure that the virus is not transmitted. Al-Shishakli said that as of September 1, the center has not received a single case.

“The center has a capacity of 160 people and is designed to double its size within a week in the event of an increase in cases, to accommodate 320 people. The center also aims to relieve pressure on local hospitals and coordinates with Idlib Health so that their work is under their supervision,” Al-Shishakli told ARIJ.

Al-Shishakli confirms that his organization has provided several training sessions and workshops on safety and prevention measures, and that the organization has shifted the schools they supervise to e-learning, especially since most of the schools in northern Syria have completely shut down.

“We tried to complete the school year with our 4800 students online, and deliver all the lessons through WhatsApp. However, we faced some accessibility issues, because some families did not have access to WiFi and blackouts meant that the internet was not particularly reliable,” he added.

Chaos and Clashing Authorities

In a region dominated by chaos and lawlessness, the authorities and military organizations seek to gain from the COVID-19 crisis without considering the dangers and consequences of a virus spread.

All decisions aimed at preventing the spread of the virus and issued by the Salvation Government (loyal to the Al-Nusra Front) which manages the city of Idlib and some parts of its countryside, have been superficial, according to Muhammad Haj Hammoud.

Hammoud, a Syrian journalist and Director of the Idlib Plus network, explains how efforts by the authorities are ultimately driven by ulterior motives. Specifically, authorities aim to use this crisis to strengthen their influence “on the ground” and narrow their grip and power over civilians.

This investigation monitored a number of decisions that have effectively put civilians’ lives in danger.

For example, the decision taken on April 2 to suspend Friday prayers in mosques lasted just two weeks. This was a major issue, especially given the month of Ramadan and the increased amount of prayers in local mosques, which continued despite the ongoing crisis and in the absence of any preventative or precautionary measures.

Then, on May 31, came the decision to grant exemptions for vehicle registration fees within a period of 15 days, “with the aim of encouraging people to go back to normality”.

This resulted in citizens flocking to register their vehicles, causing severe congestion, and forcing the government to extend the initial grace period.

This also led to an increase in the risk of contracting COVID-19. Here, the authorities are criticized for attempting to “return to normality” when their interests are clearly focused on remedying the financial deficit and issues with their treasury, instead of prioritizing people’s lives and their safety.

Furthermore, no decision was issued to limit commercial or industrial activity in the governorate. Instead, the Salvation Government tried to open new crossings and trade routes, which threatened the isolation of Idlib and put it at risk of infection from neighbouring areas.

According to various sources (from the Ministry of Health and other unofficial sources), as of June, the neighboring areas had already recorded at least 204 cases. This is despite numerous warnings from the Doctors’ Union in Northern Syria regarding the dangers of opening these crossings.

On April 15, the Headquarters for the “Liberation of Al-Sham” announced the opening of a commercial crossing with areas near the city of Saraqib, due to pressure from the business owners and traders trying to compensate for their losses after the crossings with Turkey were closed. However, the authorities stood to gain from taxes imposed on all vehicles using the crossing, in either direction.

Demonstrations quickly spread in northern Syria, and several popular parties issued statements rejecting the decision and demanding that the crossing be closed. In response to the protests, the authorities simply opened a crossing in a different area in the western countryside of Aleppo on April 30.

Tahrir al-Sham published a video of the crossing’s activities and the entry of trucks from regime-controlled areas. Once again, the people protested by organizing a sit-in to express their opposition to the authorities’ decision. However, the authorities retaliated by shooting at protestors, killing some.

A worker in a local organization speaking on the condition of anonymity, indicates that “the most dangerous thing for humanitarian organizations operating in the northern regions is the interference of the Government through the Office of the Displaced Administration and the Office of Organizations Affairs.

It would be impossible for an organization to operate in those areas or in the camps without their approval, and obstructing these organizations prevents aid from reaching those who need it.”

Due to deteriorating economic conditions, the collapse of the Syrian currency, the threat of the pandemic, and the implementation of the Caesar Act, the suffering and needs of civilians have increased, thereby increasing their dependence on relief and humanitarian organizations.

Ahmed Abdel Hakim, a displaced person who lives in a camp on the Syrian-Turkish border in the western countryside of Idlib, explains how the aid he receives is crucial in sustaining him and his family.

He told ARIJ that if the aid provided to him is cut for just one month, he and his family face starvation and food insecurity, as he is unemployed and without a source of income.

On July 11, after great difficulty, the UN Security Council voted on Resolution No. 2533, which stipulates the renewal of the mechanism for the introduction of cross-border humanitarian aid, specifically through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing that connects northern Syria and Turkey, for a period of one year.

The resolution also called on the UN Secretary General to submit their report on the functioning and progress of the aforementioned mechanism to the Security Council at least once every 60 days.

This investigation was completed with support of Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ).

SIRAJ —Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism

The post COVID-19: A Ticking Time Bomb in Northern Syria and its Refugee Camps appeared first on SIRAJ.

Throughout the region, there are 1,000 camps, accommodated by medical centers that have 1,689 inpatient bed capacity — that is one bed per 2,378 people. There are also 243 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds, each to accommodate 16,534 people, 107 ventilators, each to serve 3,7549 people, and 32 isolation units, where each unit is dedicated to 125,554 people.  

The first confirmed case was announced as of a Syrian doctor, who constantly travels from/to Syria and Turkey by virtue of his work. However, the puzzle pieces were not all in place as to ascertain whether the doctor’s was in fact the first positive case, or that north Syria did actually record, but not announce, cases before him. Equally uncertain is whether that case had carried the virus from Turkey or had contracted it in Syria.   

Therefore, this investigation seeks to track COVID-19’s infiltration into north Syria and the ensuing confirmed cases. The investigation’s scope, nevertheless, is not limited to monitoring the movement of people through border crossings with Turkey, but it also reports the daily two- way traffic of Turkish employees, who travel to areas in north Syria, and people who might have carried the virus from other Syrian areas into the target region, that is north Syria.  Furthermore, the investigation reports that the measures adopted at the Idlib-based Bab al-Hawa and the Aleppo-based Bab al-Salameh border crossings between Syria and Turkey were not feasible enough to ensure that the virus is not transmitted across the borders, according to medical reports and locals’ accounts, who have been tested in an assessment of potential infections. 

Indeed, the first confirmed case came from Turkey. But the northern regions of Syria share borders with areas held by the Syrian regime too, and others controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The latter two regions have recorded positive cases that pre-date the spread of the virus in north Syria.

Seeking to curb the pandemic’s spread, most nations across the world imposed restrictions on travel by land, sea and air. They either completely closed crossings and airports, or conditioned passengers’ movement, who were asked to undertake the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test that proves they do not have the virus. 

The Syria-Turkey border crossings followed suit and adopted similar measures. They were completely closed, banning in and out movement  as of mid-March, a few days into the virus’ spread in Turkey, according to separate statements made by the Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salameh crossings. Nevertheless, the closure decision had some exceptions, as it allowed certain groups to travel back and forth, while conducting no smear tests to ascertain they are not carrying the virus. That puts both countries at the risk of potential outbreaks, if borders were crossed by asymptomatic passengers, who might have contracted the virus in either of the countries.  

On the condition of anonymity, an employee of a Gaziantep-based Syrian relief organization reported that lesser travel exceptions were granted during the pandemic, only a quarter of relief organization staffers, compared to the pre-pandemic figures, were allowed access. However, these continued to travel over the course of the pandemic through the Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salameh crossings. Moreover, when dealing with the exceptional passengers, the measures adopted at the crossings were a matter of “formality”. On the Syrian side, for example, the measures were limited to temperature assessment and a few routine questions, asking passengers whether they had any of the virus’ symptoms, the employee added.

Travel exceptions are granted to

Turkish postal service (PTT) employees

Turkish policemen and court employees

Medical staffers

Relief and humanitarian organizations’ employees

Merchants 

Cross-border travel measures

Temperature assessment

Symptoms-related routine questions

48-hour self-isolation, imposed on merchants only 

Such travel exceptions are granted by Turkey to Syrian doctors all the time, allowing them access through Bab al-Hawa, north of Idlib, and Bab al-Salameh, north of Aleppo, under a single condition, that doctors coming from Turkey or Syria get their temperature assessed. Merchants, holding the Turkish state-issued card, are also allowed access through the borders, however, on the condition of committing themselves to a 48-hour quarantine before moving in and out of Turkey, as well as getting a regular smear test, according to the same source. 

This case also applies to Turkish employees, operating in the Olive Branch and Euphrates Shield areas, whose work dictates that they travel in and out of Syria on a regular basis, an officer of the Syrian Civil Police in the Euphrates Shield area said. 

From border areas, such as Hatay, Turkish employees arrive in Turkey-run Syrian areas, heading to the branches of the Turkish postal corporation, police departments and courts there. Even though these employees do not mix with Syrian civilians to a large extent, they get in touch with Syrian colleagues, according to the civil police officer. This turns the exact date of the virus’ entry to Syria into a subject worthy of investigation, along with the maintained safety procedures and health protocols regarding social distancing, the one-meter distance rule, wearing masks and gloves, and placing hand sanitizers in the workplace.

As of mid-July, the Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salameh crossings have “officially” announced resuming traffic in and out of Syria, while adhering to “preventive measures”, after an official closure that denied civilians travel through the crossings since mid-March. Nevertheless, the preventive measures maintained by the crossings throughout the lockdown were described as “irresponsible and negligent” by an employee of a relief organization, based in southern Turkey. He recounted his experience with these measures, having travelled through the crossings regularly while they were officially closed. The source was tested himself, presenting an example of the border crossings’ mitigation policies which apply to other cases too. “Humanitarian organizations obtain an exception from Turkey, which allows employees to travel from/to Syria and Turkey once a month,” he said. 

 “It took us a temperature assessment only to be allowed to pass through the crossing. No other measures were maintained. Upon returning to Turkey, the same procedures were carried out. What strikes me as strange is that before arriving into the Turkish crossing, we were let into a cooled room on the Syrian side of the crossing. There, our body’s temperature cooled off, since we had to walk for about 15 minutes at the Bab al-Hawa Crossing,” he added, explaining that if any of the people granted the travel exception contracts the virus, he /she will not be certain about its source, whether it is Syria or Turkey. 

“Specialized teams were sterilizing all the crossing’s facilities and the buses that transported passengers to and from Turkey, in addition to sterilizing the departure centers. Furthermore, aboard free buses, social distancing was maintained between passengers, who were asked to wear masks and gloves,”  Mazen Alloush, director of the Public Relations Department at Bab Al-Hawa Crossing, responded. 

In the past few months, he added, they also established two medical posts in cooperation with the Syria Relief and Development Organization (SRD), one near the departure station and another at the entrance to Turkey. Doctors and nurses at the posts are assigned addressing the affairs of passengers travelling from/to Turkey only, applying measures such as assessing body temperature “only” and having them answer routine health-related questions. If passengers display COVID-19 symptoms, they are isolated and then transferred to quarantine facilities outside the crossing.

Coming from regime-held areas

Border crossings were not the virus’ only gateway to north Syria. The situation was the same at inside-Syria crossings, which demark the control areas held by the de facto authorities there.  

On July 25, the Infectious Disease Surveillance Laboratory announced recording the first COVID-19 positive case in the city of Sarmin, east of Idlib.  A source close to the confirmed case reported that the 60-year-old infected woman, originally from Sarmin,  was in the Syrian regime held areas and had to resort to illegal means to return to north Syria as internal crossings were shut down due to the outbreak. On August 10, the Epidemic Early Warning Alert and Response Network (EEWARN) recorded a second case, however, in the city of Darat Azza, west of Aleppo, which also came from the areas controlled by the Syrian regime. This is thus sufficient to prove that a number of the positive cases have carried the virus from the regime-held areas to those controlled by the opposition, even though the crossings between the two sides were back then closed. 

Muhammad Atallah said he was smuggled from the regime-held areas to north Syria, providing an account of his journey. “I lived in Lebanon for over seven years and had to return to Syria upon losing my job. I attempted entry through Turkey several times, but it did not work due to the visa. I was left one choice, passing through the Syrian regime’s control areas to reach Idlib province, my place of birth.”

“After I arrived in Aleppo, I stayed there for more than two weeks. There was no way to reach Idlib since the borders were closed for passengers by the opposition, fearing COVID-19. I had to seek smugglers. To get in touch with smugglers, my relatives told me that I should go to the bus terminal, where I will find them calling: ‘Idlib, Idlib!’ When I got to the bus terminal, I met a smuggler who appeared to be a fighter because he had a military outfit on. He presented me with the trafficking routes, adding that each would cost me a different price. The price reflects the level of comfort the passenger intends to enjoy. ‘If you do not wish to walk; you will be transported by a car for a couple of hours. This will cost you over $700 (about 1.5 million Syrian pounds). However, if you choose to take the Jabal al-Ahlam/ Mountain of Dreams road, where you have to walk for over two hours, you will have to pay $200 (420, 000 Syrian pounds), and it is not intended for families’,” he added. 

“After agreeing to take the Jabal Al-Ahlam road, we got on a bus, 10 of us, planning to reach the city of Nubul in northern rural Aleppo by evening. From there, we were next transported to a village in rural Aleppo, called Burj al-Qas, on a different bus, and then to the Brad village.  Finally, we had to take the Jabal al-Ahlam road on foot which led us to the city of Afrin, rural Aleppo.  It took me a few hours to arrive in the city of Idlib. Fearing to transmit the virus to my family in case I had it, I isolated myself at home for a week, until I made sure that I had none of the COVID-19 symptoms.” 

First case – track tracing

On June 21, a Syrian doctor entered north Syria through the Bab al-Salameh crossing. Less than ten days, on July 4, he began to feel COVID-19 symptoms, according to a medical source close to the doctor. On July 9, the tests proved he was positive for the virus. It has not been determined whether the doctor carried the virus with him from his residence in Gaziantep, Turkey, or had actually contracted it upon his return to Syria, for the virus’ incubation period is 2-14 days, said the Gaziantep-based doctor Yasser Farouh, a staffer of the Assistance Coordination Unit (ACU). “In both cases, what to blame is the measures adopted at the crossings, which they keep as a matter of ‘formalities’, when addressing the disorder caused by travel exceptions,” he added. 

On July 5, the infected doctor isolated himself in his residence at the doctors’ dorm of the Bab al-Hawa Hospital. He also underwent the PCR test two days later. The results came out on July 9, proving he tested positive. The Idlib Health Directorate, for its part, placed the Bab Al-Hawa Hospital under quarantine, including medical staff, inpatients, and clients for five days. Following this, it confirmed that all test results were negative. 

Before he was tested, the doctor stayed in al-Bab city between June 30 and July 1, visiting a relative who works in the al-Bab Hospital, where he could have possibly contracted the virus from a patient or a colleague in Syria, especially in the city of al-Bab, a doctor of the Idlib Health Directorate said on the condition of anonymity. 

Furthermore, on July 7, an inside medical source from al-Bab Hospital reported that a new COVID-19 case had been recorded of a non-resident Turkish doctor in the hospital. The case was not officially announced, neither by the Ministry of Health in the Syrian Interim Government, nor by the Turkish government. 

According to the source, the doctor is in charge of an ambulance and patients referred to Turkey. He carries out weekly shifts in the hospital and moves between the Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch areas. This means the stakes are high that other people in areas of north Syria are already infected, given the geographical scope of the Turkish doctor’s movement. 

June 25

Fist case enters Syria

July 4

Feeling the Symptoms

July 9

PCR test results  

July 30

Staying in al-Bab City for 2 days 

Following the first infection, several other COVID-19 positive cases were recorded in north Syria, all of them are medical personnel, who may have had contact with Turkish doctors or Syrian patients at their workplace. On August 10, a second Syrian doctor tested positive — a pediatric surgeon at the Hand in Hand Hospital in Atma town in northern rural Idlib. The newly confirmed case prompted the Idlib Health Directorate to place the hospital under quarantine, with all the people inside it.  On the same day,   a third positive case was recorded, of an oral and maxillofacial surgeon at the Bab al-Hawa Hospital, who was quarantined at the doctors’ dorm of the hospital, according to one of the hospital’s administration officers. 

On July 11, an infection of one of the staffers of the Emergency Department at the Bab al-Hawa and al-Shifaa hospitals in Idlib city was reported. In response, the Health Directorate quarantined the second hospital’s personnel, but it failed to identify the infected persons, which is likely to allow for a large outbreak in Idlib, a source of the Idlib Health Directorate noted on the condition of anonymity. 

As the COVID-19 spread map grows larger, the threats arising from the underequipped medical sector in north Syria will continue to increase, for “the measures plan to combat the virus, if the region is to suffer a spike in cases, are modest because they depend on hospital equipment and manpower readiness,” Doctor Muhammad al-Salem said. 

Doctor Muhammad al-Abrash, for his part, said that the Health Directorate has provided tests, but the number is still insufficient to cover the population throughout north Syria. “A number of ventilators were secured and three isolation and recovery hospitals were constructed. However, these are not enough, for there are only about a 100 ventilators in north Syria,” he said. “For the time being, hospitals are obliging staff to maintain preventive measures, which have not been properly withheld so far.”

On September 5, the date of reporting, the positive case number mounted to 98, whereas 66 cases were recorded as recovered, according to the ACU. As a mitigation mechanism, the health directorates in the region are tracing contacts of the confirmed cases and testing them for the virus, enforcing no further restrictions, however. The people, on their turn, continue to violate safety and preventative measures, particularly social distancing.

This investigation is hosted by the Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ) and Radio Rozana.

The post Through Border Crossings, COVID-19 Infiltrates North Syria  appeared first on SIRAJ.

“We better die from the virus, if it spreads to the camps, than starve to death, since it is particularly difficult to obtain detergents in the camp,” the mother said, weary of the long arduous day on the farm.  

With the money she and her daughters earn, she gets to buy as much vegetables and crops as possible. These, she then turns into food storage for winter. 

Displaced from the al-Ghab Plain, the family today lives in the al-Safsafe Camp, near Salqin city. As COVID-19 prevailed, Rama’s brothers, like the rest of the camp men, yielded to unemployment after they lost their jobs in construction. 

With the significant spread of the virus, the camps’ people had to grapple with major challenges, most importantly their severely affected jobs. Furthermore, they are toiling to make a living, considering their long stay at the camps, lacking job opportunities and humanitarian aid, which before amounted to food shares and a few healthcare services at best, provided by organizations and civil society associations, the camp’s residents said. 

It is dangerous and horrifying, a number of despondent displaced persons at the camps in north Syria said, describing their life there. 

“We almost have no food. The aid we get every now and then is insufficient. We are not even getting enough water, drinkable or for household uses,” said Hind Malaki (33 years), a woman displaced from Mount Zawiya to rural Idlib with her three-member family. “My husband was a day labourer, and we struggled only to get bread. Our life in the camp has grown worse than ever.”

The larger proportion of the camps’ residents are displaced from areas in Hama, Aleppo and Idlib, fleeing the military operations launched by the regime and Russian forces. They, thus, sought refuge in less hostile areas, which incubate over two million civilians, the Syria Response Coordinators Group (SRCG) said, adding that IDPs live in 1277 camps, 366 of which are informal. 

Shortfall in Humanitarian Response within Camps under COVID-19:

Livelihoods and food security sector 49%

Water and sanitation sector  66%

Healthcare and nutrition sector 79%

Non-food items sector 54%

Shelter and housing sector 54%

Education sector 74%

Protection sector 70%

– Source: Director of the Syria Response Coordinators Group

In a statement, the Syrian Civil Defense, a volunteer civil defense organization that helps people affected by the war in Syria, said that the viral outbreak is haunting over four million Syrian IDPs in Idlib province and western rural Aleppo, as well as those in the camps spreading along the Turkish border strip, particularly day labourers, who are stuck in a state of anticipation and are obsessed with the pandemic and infection.  

Furthermore, people’s suffering has hit new extremes, for over a million persons live in camps that lack life essentials, according to statistics reported by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).

“In the camps, people struggle to earn themselves a single day’s living, particularly with the widespread virus, which cost a large proportion of people their source of income,” Dima al-Hak, a member of Idlib Province Municipality, said.  

Even though a COVID-19 outbreak in the Syrian displacement camps in rural Idlib and Aleppo will be a disaster, to apply social distancing inside the tents is out of question. However, many people are not scared of the pandemic, as much as they are concerned for their lives and safety. 

As the Syrian pound’s value crashed before the dollar, reaching an exchange rate of about 2500 Syrian pounds per dollar in July 2020, according to one currency conversion website, most of the markets were closed down, while prices spiked. Consequently, complaints increased among workers in camps and north Syria, who are tormented by economic and living crises alike.  

“My two daughters and I are coerced to work in the fields, getting 500 Syrian pounds each. We are trying to earn our bread money, after my husband and son lost their jobs at the olive factories due to the COVID-19 spread, which devastated our lives to the roots. Both my husband and son had jobs, and our finances were acceptable. However, after they stopped working, we had to work for a low wage that does not exceed 500 Syrian pounds. If the virus continues hitting us hard, we might even consent to work in return for 100 Syrian pounds a day,” Rama’s mother said, who is forty-something. 

On the same regard, a Humanitarian Situation Overview in northwest Syria, conducted by REACH Initiative in September 2019, scanning 1051 local communities, villages and towns in north Syria, stated that the majority of the Syrian families’ monthly income amounts to a staggering 50,000 Syrian pounds (about 25 dollars), while the income of 941 of the target communities does not suffice to cover the family’s food-related needs. 

To make do, the overview further reported, 80% of the families borrow money, 56% send their children to work, 22% reduce the size of  meals, 11% skip meals, and 10% offer their household assets for sale. 

Yousef Osman, a Syrian young man and a day labourer who sells vegetables in the city of Idlib, shares the demands of other workers: “We need some entities’ support to help us through these wretched conditions, caused by the spread of the virus and death.”

A report, published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on 13 July, stated that the COVID-19 impact was added to the repercussions of repeated displacement, persistent security threats, and instability due to local currency depreciation. These concerns boosted the burdens of the area’s population, amounting to 4.1 million persons, 2.8 of whom primarily depend on relief aid to live.    

The listed factors, the report claimed, induced a rise in the food parcel’s cost by 68% over a single month, thus threatening to push the rest of the area’s population below the poverty line, who would not be capable of affording their needs unaided.  

Concerns and challenges

Muhammad Da’boul (12 years) lives with his family in an informal camp in Atme, rural Idlib in north Syria. The family is extremely concerned over the precautionary measures adopted by the local authorities in Idlib province. 

As a wage earner, Muhammad used to make a daily 1000 Syrian pounds, with which his five-member family managed to get along. “I would shuck corn husks every day, boil them and then sell them in the camp. However, with the COVID-19 outbreak, people are no longer willing to buy. My customers went missing, for people are afraid of contracting the virus from vendors,” Muhammad said, his face overcome by confusion. 

An estimated 83% of Syrians are below the poverty line, according to the United Nations (UN) 2019 annual report, which assesses major humanitarian needs in Syria. 

Muhammad is one among thousands of Syrians who are now in desperate  need of assistance amidst  the rising prices of commodities in the market and the spiralling COVID-19 crisis. 

Local councils in Idlib, responding to the first positive COVID-19 case announced on 9 July 2020, made several statements, providing for banning weekly bazaars in al-Dana, Binish, al-Fu’a and Atme areas “until further notice”, seeking to prevent civilians from gathering. Nevertheless, the area, where three-quarters of the population are on relief aid, is now facing a reality no less threatening than the virus itself. 

Major Sources of Income in North Syria

Borrow money from family/friends 80%

 Reduce meal size 56%

 Children sent to work 22%

 Skip meals 11%

Sell household assets 10%

 

– Source: Humanitarian Situation Overview in Northwest Syria

– REACH Initiative / September 2019

Day labourers left to their own devices

Five months ago, Fatima Muhammad spent long hours behind a sewing machine in her tent in rural Idlib. That was her job for about three years, which she said made her the most happy. 

Sewing was Fatima’s source of income, but she is devoid of all resources today, as she cannot continue working. “I am a tailor. I made a living for the family; we asked no one for help. However, due to COVID-19, less customers are showing up. I am no longer capable of affording my needs or sewing tools and materials, such as needles and threads. I am also a heart and hypertension patient. The doctors have cautioned me against seeking another job,” Fatima said.  

Relating to sources of income, the Humanitarian Situation Overview in northwest Syria indicated that 85% of the people do not have stable jobs, depending thus on day labour, 84% work on the farms they own, 60% work in business and trade, 14% depend on remittances from outside Syria, and only 13% count on stable salaried labour. 

“In the camps, displaced workers, whose main source of income is day labour, are facing a living catastrophe today. Those, however, who work in workshops might be severely affected in two months, if the crisis inflates further,” lawyer Youssef Qadour said, who works with a local team to document violations against the rights of workers in north Syria. 

For her part, Dr. Dulama, SRCG director in northwest Syria, listed the key professions in the camps in north Syria: “The majority of the people are day labourers. Others, however, are either tailors or barbers, or work in sell-buy businesses.”   

Reporting on the purchase power index in Syria, Numbeo stated that it hit extremely low, scoring only 9.30 points out of a hundred.    

Further, the investigative unit interviewed a number of displaced day labourers, who lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 outbreak. They addressed the measures adopted in response and the ensuing repercussions, which aggravated unemployment and poverty rates among IDPs, who were already enduring dire humanitarian conditions before the outbreak and its consequences, which had a catastrophic negative impact on the camps, particularly. 

Residents of IDP camps in north Syria face challenging living conditions, in the absence of minimum resources and services, including water, electricity, sanitation and housing, according to the SRCG.

Eight families in the camps, selected randomly by the investigative unit, reported that despite losing their jobs, no organizations came forward to help day labourers, covering neither of their needs, especially ones related to relief and healthcare.   

 In the camps, key professions are farming, sewing, vending, building, shop keeping, transporting people,  hairdressing or selling commodities on stalls.

Dreading haunger

Under the COVID-19 crisis, the IDPs challenging condition effected a great shortfall in the humanitarian response within the camps, which amounted to 49% in livelihoods and food security sector, 66% in  water and sanitation sector, 79% in healthcare and nutrition sector, 54% in non-food items sector, 54% in  shelter and housing sector (providing tents to informal camps), 74% in education sector, and 70% in the protection sector, the SRCG reported. 

Over 5000 persons live in the al-Safsafe Camp in rural Idlib, north Syria, most of whom sought the camp in batches coming from al-Ghab Plain in 2013. They know no other profession but farming, given the nature of the area they fled.  

“Before the COVID-19 outbreak, over 40% of the camp’s residents had day jobs at olive and canned food factories. Their daily wages, however, did not exceed a 1000 Syrian pounds, which was acceptable and sufficient to support the family, for all the members worked in these factors. As the virus started spreading, the factories were shut down,  boosting unemployment and poverty rates in the camp, which already lacked healthcare and food aid,” the camp manager Wael al-Jasim said, describing the suffering endured by the day labourers. 

Mostly covered in blue tarpaulin, several informal camps rest between fields and hills, such as those in western rural Idlib, near the Syria-Turkey border in Jisr al-Shughur area. 

Set up in 2014, these camps shelter families that fled from rural Latakia and western rural Idlib. They all live in low-quality dwellings that turn into swamps in winter, while unbearable during the scorching summer.   

“We live in this tent, the eight of us,” Ahmad al-Barhou said, a thirty-something man, who lives with his family, while also taking care of his sister and her children. 

He pauses, and then adds: “My sister lost her husband during a Syrian regime air raid on our town in the Turkmen Mountain, rural Latakia. I made a living for my family, my sister and her children. I had a modest vegetables stall. My work stopped due to the coronavirus outbreak and the people’s inability to purchase as the Syrian pound crashed.”

Addressing purchase power, several financial overviews indicated that the living costs of a five-member-family is 300,000 Syrian pounds, or 200 to 250 dollars. Nevertheless, these figures are eight to 10 times less than the actual costs. 

Delivery

Before the outbreak, the camps’ people suffered from long-term unemployment, lacking money and job opportunities. But still, many of them are trying to forge themselves a chance and make a living to improve their life. 

To earn his living, Ghadeer al-Hamwi (29 years) transported passengers and delivered commodities aboard his motorcycle in the Atme Camp on the Syria-Turkey border. However, there are no errands to run these days. 

Standing next to his motorcycle, Ghadeer said: “I transported customers between the camps and to marketplaces for a bit of money, aboard my motorcycle that consumes little oil. The transportation fee is also less compared to cars. So, I had many customers before COVID-19. With the restrictions, preventative measures, and the distancing rules, as well as the rising concerns which accompanied the virus, the people stopped seeking my services. I ended up jobless.”

On 28 July, the Idlib Healthcare Directorate reported new cases, which brings the total case number to 29 in the area. 

The new confirmed case is in Idlib city, the directorate stated, while larger case numbers are in the two cities of Sarmada and Sarmin in rural Idlib, as well as near the camps in Azaz city, rural Aleppo.  

“Inside Syria, over 11 million people need humanitarian assistance, of whom over four millions are children,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, said in early March. 

In north Syria, Ghadeer and fellow day labourers wait for the COVID-19 crisis to end, to resume their jobs after a two-month interruption. 

Ghadeer, who by now sat on the ground near his motorcycle inside the camp, stressed that the condition of his family, consisting of four children, is tragic, while he is unable to meet their needs, or even make a living. “Work has stopped. Unfortunately, we are offered no assistance or food aid. A disaster is looming, a lot more dangerous than the virus. It is starvation,” he said.

The Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ)

The post “We Fear Hunger, Not Coronavirus”: The Syrian Camps’ Tragedy  appeared first on SIRAJ.

In Idlib’s countryside, elderly residents of informal camps are deprived of primary healthcare services, usually offered by makeshift hospitals, and quarantine facilities, which camp areas lack. The situation corresponds to increasing concerns over the outbreak since the first positive case was announced on 10 July 2020 by the Minister of Health of the Syrian Interim Government, who constantly posts updated case figures. In areas held by the Syrian regime, cases are also on the rise, amounting to 417, according to the Ministry of Health. Furthermore, cases throughout Syria are being tracked by the World Health Organization (WHO), which reports new confirmed cases, as well. 

The United Nations (UN), for its part, warned against a healthcare catastrophe if the pandemic continues to spread significantly in north Syria, given the failing healthcare system, shortage for ventilators, and other supplies necessary for combating COVID-19. Moreover, the UN designated $385 millions to cover additional 2020 needs, as to cope with the pandemic in the full range of Syria.

Nonetheless, it appears that the UN warnings are in no way close to being heeded.

Suffering from diabetes and hypertension, Badriyah is fretting over contracting coronavirus, saying that she is regularly feverish due to the extremely hot weather. This had her obsessed, particularly with the surge in confirmed cases.  

Like most of the elderly in the informal camps, Badriyah complains about the absence of healthcare facilities, while test centres are tens of kilometres away from the camp where she lives. The situation is made further complicated by extreme poverty and the people’s inability to reach these centres to conduct the necessary texts or purchase preventative needs.

Camps off preventative formworks

One-third of Idlib’s population lives in tents, urging Cristian Reynders, Doctors without Borders (MSF) field coordinator for northwest Syria, to say that indeed, most recommendations for protecting people against the virus and slowing down its spread simply cannot be implemented in Idlib. He, furthermore, raised an ethical question, that probably will remain unanswered: “People are also asked to practice good hygiene measures and wash their hands frequently. But how can you practice good hygiene when you live surrounded by mud?”

Sharing Reynders’ thoughts on the matter, Ahmad al-Dabis, UOSSM Syria Program director,  told the reporter that: “Preventative measures cannot be maintained in the camps, for they are extremely crowded. Moreover, the personal hygiene-related preventative rules cannot be kept due to lacking water, sanitation and joint bathrooms, which do not adhere to requirements. This applies to villages and cities alike, for there are group housing places that cannot be controlled, not to mention that thousands of families are coerced to share one or two rooms with one or more families.”

UOSSM is a non-government union for relief and healthcare organizations, registered in Turkey, UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland.

Displaced from southern rural Idlib, Abu Ahmad (64) lives in an informal camp near the Turkish border. He does not show the slightest interest in our COVID-19-related questions after the first positive case was reported in north Syria. He is, rather, busy counting the money he made today for working on a nearby farm. “We do not care about Corona any more. Even without it, we were barely having enough food. Anyways, we are almost dead,” he said. “How could we keep preventative rules? Is it with masks, sanitizers and detergents that cost a fortune, or with dirty shared bathrooms? Or should we do it with water that we do not really have?” 

On his turn, Yakoub Murad, a Syrian doctor based in the Turkish city of Reyhanlı, explained that to boost the immune system, older people need to eat various types of healthy food, maintain psychological stability, and keep away from stress and anxiety. Even upon contracting the virus, they have to uphold the same measures. However, none of these requirements can be met in the camps, for living conditions are pretty challenging there, at the villages also, including that mad rise in prices and lacking emotional stability caused by military operations and constant displacement.  

 Nursing homes in the clutches of fear

Mustafa al-Nasser (63), originally a resident of Damascus, has been living in Dar al-Salama Nursing Home in Azaz City, northern rural Aleppo,  for three years, after he lost his family, wife and three children in the military combat in 2012. “I am scared that the disease might spread here as well. I quit going outside altogether. I no longer shake hands, and I frequently wash my hands.  I am not sure when the disease will disappear, but I always wonder, what would happen to me if I caught the virus? What if I needed healthcare?” he said. 

Founded in 2013, the nursing home was a mere tent, with a capacity to accommodate nine persons. In early 2018, however, the nursing home was moved to a four-room-building, with utilities. Today, the home can host 18 to 25 persons, along with six staffers.

Ziad Najar, the nursing home director, stressed that the management was keen on adopting preventative measures against COVID-19, including disinfecting the building, distributing masks, washing clothes on a regular basis and preventing elderly from mixing with strangers. A number of the inmates are mentally-disordered, who cannot be controlled in terms of hygiene and social distancing, while tightness of space continues to give them a hard time, he added.

The nursing home does not receive stable funding from any entity, Najar reported, and it is completely dependent on personal donations, adding that the home is today deficient and burdened with debts. Asking the director about potential COVID-19 positive cases, he said: “Inmates are transferred to the nearby International Blue Crescent Hospital once suspected of contracting the virus. But still, we are not sure how we will manage if cases continue to increase.”

 In north Syria, places such as first-class nursing homes do not exist. Rather, there are big and modestly furnished houses, occupied by elderly and persons with disabilities, which are operated through personal donations only, spreading in Salqin, Azaz, and al-Dana, among other areas. In the strip between rural Aleppo and Idlib, where four million persons at least live, quarantine facilities are either lacking or are not properly equipped to accommodate elederly, who might contract the virus. 

Fear and concern necessitate unity

Difficulties suffered by elederly and nursing homes in north Syria almost match those endured by old people in the northeastern parts of the country,  particularly in al-Hasaka and Raqqa, where the Women’s Committee of the Autonomous Administration supervises nursing homes. 

In Rmelan, far east of Syria, officials, running the Viyan (Emarah) Elderly Women Nursing Home, are also facing COVID-19 severe repercussions and its ever increasing threat, amidst shortage for supplies and medicaid. 

Opened in March 2016, the nursing home has the capacity to accommodate 10 women only, and it is run by four women staffers, who take turns around the clock. 

“Even staffers must adhere to certain daily measures. They have to change their clothes upon entering the nursing home, for instance. They also have to keep their hands sanitized and masks on all the time. Furthermore, they are on a diet, drinking lots of liquids and eating fruits, to boost their immune system in case an outbreak occurs,” Najah, a supervisor at the nursing home, said. 

 Family visits are also conditioned by a set of preventative measures, which the home adopts to protect the eledrly women, including social distancing, wearing masks, disinfecting hands and keeping a safe distance as a basis to prevent the transmission of the virus. 

“A major difficulty that we constantly face is that eledrely women have their families in mind all the time. One woman, for example, asks her son to come and see her regularly; another asks her daughter to do so; a third would miss having her sisters around. We, thus, ask family members to visit the elederly women at their request. When the latter meet their relatives, the emotions we get to feel cannot simply be put into words,” Najah added. 

insufficient awareness and prevention 

Addressing responsive action in the area, Dr. Ahmad al-Dabis pointed out to the awareness campaigns launched by UOSSM, which target locals in the suburbs of Aleppo and Idlib, adding that masks, disinfectants, sinitizers, and gloves were distributed at the camps, particularly to the most vulnerable groups, including elderly and people suffering from chronic diseases, such as  diabetes, cancer, asthma and  hepatitis. The population is massive and the demand is overwhelming, al-Dabis said, stressing that UOSSM’s response covers very little of the humanitarian needs of four million civilians in the area. 

Suffering thus at the camps, some hundred thousand internally displaced persons (IDPs) decided to abandon the tents and head back to their destroyed homes, mostly located near fronts or war lines, one of whom was Abu Muhammad. The sixty-something man went back to his home in Taftanaz city, rural Idlib. Having returned, Abu Muhammad told the reporter that he is not scared of the disease anymore, for he washes frequently to perform prayers.  At the same time, he noted that no leaflets were distributed, nor prevention-aimed awareness campaigns were launched to address the disease, adding that he performs group prayers everyday because the pandemic has not spread in the city yet. Furthermore, staying in his city, despite the danger and the bombing, is better than being displaced at the camps, where preventive measures and healthcare services are nonexistent, he said, especially that at a certain point he was coerced to share the same room with 13 other people when he was still at the camp. 

Interviewed in Taftanz city too, Basheer al-Khatib, seventy-something, said that he tries to keep a distance from people with flue, refrains from showing up at public gathering places and tight spaces were people tend to assemble, stressing that no prevention-awareness campaigns are addressing the disease, despite the large population density. Masks or disinfectants were not distributed, as well. 

Almost in all the cities in north Syria, bazzars, popular markets opened on specific days of the week, were still being held when the report was being prepared, and no decisions were passed as to officially prevent such gatherings. 

The Early Warning Alert and Response Network (EWARN), a local healthcare group operating in north Syria, posted counsel and guidance to help edlerly protect themselves from contracting COVID-19, including washing hands, avoiding large-scale gatherings and staying away from people showing symptoms of any illnesses. 

Moreover, the EWARN stressed that diabetic people must ont skip their medications and that they should closely monitor their blood glucose, adding that people should immediately seek medical assistance upon coughing, having a fever or shortness of breath, pointing that asthma patients must keep inhalers close by. Cancer patients, the group advised, must also seek medical assistance upon coughing, having a fever or shortness of breath, accentuating that keeping these measures is a necessity, for no vaccine or treatment has been developed to counter COVID-19 so far. 

Healthcare facilities out of service

In northwest Syria, namely Idlib and rural Aleppo, medical supplies are very few, for healthcare sectors were systematically targeted by Russia and the Syrian regime in early 2020. The military campaigns rendered about 70% of the healthcare facilities out of service, estimated at 75 makeshift medical posts, either dispensaries or hospitals, that were inoperable partially or completely. Additionally, a number of facilities were turned unserviceable when controlled by the regime’s forces.  

This situation, UOSSM reported, led to the collapse of the already over stretched  healthcare system. There are 200 intensive care beds, and only 100 ventilators for more than four million people, which are extremely insufficient to accommodate Covid-19 patients, especially since these modest numbers of beds and ventilators are already in use, accommodating cancer, trauma, and wounded patients, as well as those with cardiac and liver diseases.  

The Ministry of Health of the Syrian Interim Government, for its part,  stated that since it first started to conduct Covid-19 tests last March, about three thousand people were examined, as they were suspected of being infected with the virus, adding that most of the tests were carried out at a single testing center and using the only device available.  Confirmed cases in the target areas amounted to 12, when the investigation was being conducted on 18 July.

Alarming scenarios

On 7 May 2020, a predictive report, obtained by the reporter, prepared by the Health Information Unit (HIS) of the Health Directorates in northwest Syria, in cooperation with a number of Syrian and international experts, showed that either of the three following scenarios lies ahead of the area.

The first scenario expects that in the eighth week into the outbreak, positive cases will jump to 16,384, while 2,458 cases will need hospitalization. The severe cases, however, that require admittance into intensive care and ventilators will be 819.

In the eighth week, the second scenario expects, positive cases will mount to 185,364, including 9,268 requiring intensive care and ventilators.

As for the third scenario, it focuses on the status of the population most in need, namely the newly displaced and elderly, whose number amounts to 1.2 million. This scenario expects that in the sixth week, the number of cases will reach 240,000 in the camps alone, 12,000 of which will require intensive care and ventilators. 

Given these alarming predictions and the scarce resources of the healthcare sector, elderly will be in a battle with the pandemic, unprotected and uncared for, particularly those living in the camps. 

During the latest military campaign, which Russian and regime forces embarked on in early 2020, about one million Syrians from Hama, Idlib and Aleppo suburbs were displaced to separate areas of northwest Syria, bringing the total number of displaced people there to 1.4 million, according to statistics issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in May 2020. These people reside either in uninhabitable homes or in official or otherwise unofficial camps, most of which lack all life’s essentials, thus, turning them into the most vulnerable group to contract Covid-19, since the random environment and absence of hygiene measures, drinking and household water, and disinfectants make the area an ideal incubator for the the virus to spread, as reported by the HIS of health directorates in Idlib. 

In a tweet, Mark Cutts,  the UN deputy regional humanitarian coordinator, warned against a modest response to the predicted health disaster, which he attributed to the reduced number of authorized crossings for the crossborder response into northwest Syria, decided by the Security Council in its recent meeting on the means of delivering humanitarian aid to north Syria. 

The warning was also echoed by Dr. Muhammad al-Issa, the health official of SAMS office in Turkey (the Syrian American Medical Society), who said that the pre-Covid-19 health status  was already critical and that people with chronic diseases were not fully provided with needed healthcare services. If the pandemic spreads, some healthcare facilities might turn inoperable, unable to provide primary services necessary to combat the outbreak, which places north Syria before a new healthcare dilemma.  

Regarding SAMS precautionary measures, al-Issa added that it has conducted (online) training, preparing many medical staffers to cope with COVID-19, and set up three quarantine facilities, in addition to the logistic support it provided to healthcare facilities as to help them affront all outbreak forms, explaining that the healthcare sector in Syria ranks as low as the second place out of five, the thing that keeps it out of  international top ratings. 

Given that situation, while UN and non-government organizations fail to answer the needs reported above, Badriyah will continue to be caged by fear, and hundreds of thousands of old people will be having an unfair battle against a fatal pandemic that might bring them to their demise.

The Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ)

Accounts addressing northeast Syria were obtained by colleague Rusheen Habo, based in al-Qamishli. 

The post Syria: Hope no longer enough, as COVID-19 Haunts Elderly appeared first on SIRAJ.

Before one year and a half, a local Turkish phone number called to the Syrian refugee, Jihad Rahal, the content of the calling was ambiguous for him, because he doesn’t know the Turkish language.

At the next day the same number called him again, with a ” weak” Arabic language, the caller told Jihad that he is an employer of the Immigration Department, and asked him to provide his documents for obtaining the Turkish nationality, at the first the young Syrian thought that it is just a”joke” from one of his friends .

At the next day Jihad went to the Immigration Department in Gaziantep city (southern of Turkey) to check it out, he asked employees who talking the Arabic language about the caller’s number and the content of demand , they asserted to him that the call is real and the phone number really belongs to the Immigration Department .

Jihad is a 28 years old youth, from Idlib countryside, holding a Syrian secondary school’s certificate, residing in Aleslahia camp, he says to the person who prepares the investigation, ” in spite of that I will lose the aid & housing at the camp, but surely I prefer obtaining the Turkish nationality to be able working legally or travel to another country for work, after I became a semi-prisoner here because I can’t move among Turkish cities, and if I left turkey I can’t return back “.

Jihad not the only one who nominates to obtain the Turkish nationality, the person who prepared this investigation has documented dozens of cases inside and outside the camp that really obtained the nationality and a lot of them do not have a university certificates, and this contradicts with the Turkish official narrative that the nationalization is targeting the Competencies Syrians only.

This reality makes the resident Syrian at Turkish lands in front of many questions, why they are nationalized? What the aim of that in the near and long term? How many persons of the Syrians were nationalized? And where is concentrated their biggest percentage? We are trying in this investigation answering of these questions and other during making interviews with the experts, politician and Syrians have obtained the Turkish nationality. “And others still waiting for their roles amid the absence of a clear & followed methodology, to choose the nominees, for the Turkish nationality from the resident Syrians in the Turkish lands”, as saying the experts and the persons who follow-up the matter.

For five months, the investigation detected providing documents of 360 Syrian for obtaining the Turkish nationality at Hatay state alone. And each of the Syrian governorates: Aleppo & Idlib which is taking the highest rates of nationalization, and the Turkish Gaziantep & Hatay governorates are occupied the first ranks among the Turkish cities which the Syrians were nationalized inside it, due to the intensive presence for Syrians south of the country.

The lawyer: Gazwan krunful, of the Free Syrian lawyers gathering, “None precisely knows the criteria, which is followed by the Turkish government for nationalization the Syrians? And who are the nominees for that? And there are doctors and academic persons in turkey since five years and most of them are waiting for nationalization but in vain, In spite of that the Turkish government said two years ago, that Syrian nationalization is targeted the competences “.

– Comparison between granting the Turkish nationality for Syrians & foreigners:

Exceptional nationality conditions for Syrians:

– A directly call from the Immigration Department to the nominee for nationalization (there aren’t any criteria).

– Recommendation of an official governmental party, or close to the government (political Syrian mostly).

The Turkish nationality conditions for foreigners:

– Real estate investment, in a value of $ 250 thousand dollars.

-Bank deposit, in a value of $ 500 thousand dollars.

– Work/labor residence for 5 years without exceeding the period in abroad of 6 months, with paying taxes during all of this period and learn the Turkish language fluently.

– Marriage of a Turkish girl, and the continuation and stability of marriage for 3 years at least.

– Ancestries and proving that by documents and Turkish courts.

– The persons who are providing great services, for Turkish state on the economic or industrial or scientific or cultural or arts or sports level.

A foothold

The absence of precise numbers creates a lot of questions about the numbers of nationalized Syrians refugees, by the Turkish opposition and the Syrian street itself, in the same time experts & analysts consider that the nationalization has a linked goal in creating influence to Turkey inside Syria in the future.

“There is an idea on the table that the goal of nationalizing Syrian is doing on the basis to create a foothold at Aleppo & Idlib regions, but I assert that the nationalizing operation is including the Syrians from the different Syrian governorates, not on regional basis, but maybe there is a far goal for the Turkish state, to create a human element to be a supporter of it at the regions close to the border (Turkish) “as referred by Krunful.

To verify the speech of experts & the persons who follow-up the Syrian nationalization case, the person who prepared this investigation has made an opinion poll at a random sample of Syrians, about the percentage of who obtained the Turkish nationality at the Syrian density’s cities in Turkey.

By asking the following question to measure levels of obtaining the nationality from Syrians, did you obtain the Turkish nationality or you submitted your documents to take it?

The results which were taken of fifty Syrians in Istanbul, Gaziantep, and Hatay, shown that 6 of 10 persons interacted with the opinion poll, obtained the nationality or submitted their documents in Istanbul. While this percentage increased in Gaziantep to 2 of 10 and 3 of 10 in Hatay state.

In another opinion poll included 90 Syrians were nationalized or submitted their documents recently at the same three cities, and the opinion poll’s question was, which is the Syrian city you are from?

The high percentage of nationalized people was from Aleppo and its countryside: 25.5%, Idlib: 23.3%, Damascus & Damascus countryside: 23.3%, latakia: 12.2%.

And in the absence of reliable numbers & accurate governmental statics, the nationalization operation still happened continuously in most of the Turkish states after its stopping for several months in some states.

In Gaziantep at south , the local Turkish television “Mega ” published a news on the last 30 November , about that the Immigration Department  at the city resumed the nationalization operation for Syrians irrespective of the qualifications or conditions, after its stopping before months for unknown reasons.

Abed Alrefai, from Damascus he is residing in Istanbul, on October 2018 he submitted a request for obtaining the nationality after a text message which was sent to the company accountant’s cell phone, which he is working in it, that he must go to the Immigration Department in Istanbul, and when we asked him about his opinion of why is Turkey nationalizes the Syrians?

“He has a labor residency since two years ago, and giving him the nationality based on that, and his opinion that the nationality to facilitate his work and to dispose of foreigners residency procedures”, As Alrefai said.

” The nationalized Syrians form a strategic depth for Turkey currently , after solving the conflict in Syria & returning back the Syrian refugees of who obtained the Turkish nationality” , as saying Mustafa Hamed Uglu , the head of the Syrian community in Istanbul .

As for Ayham Numaan (alias name), from Aleppo city, who was waiting his wife’s father to obtain the Turkish nationality to enable him obtains it by his wife, he doesn’t care about the reason of granting him the nationality, ” All what I want to dispose of difficulties of obtaining a Syrian passport’s and to dispose of the residency transactions & brokers and to obtain the right of owning house in Turkey”, as he is saying.

Naturally ,obtaining the Turkish nationality is considers a facilitation factor for residence in Turkey , so no needs to renew the Turkish residency and the Syrian passport, where the Syrian consulate in Istanbul is granting the Syrian citizens a passport valid for two years with a cost of $800 U.S, in addition, $ 350 a cost of the appointment & consulate fees, in another hand, the Turkish passport for 10 years costs $140 , and the ability to travel to 69 countries around the world with entrance visa .

-Distributing the nationalized persons, originally according to their Syrian cities as follows:

1.1 % Deir Azzor     1.1% Hama     2.2% Raqqa         4.4% Hasaka

6.6% Homs   25.5 Aleppo & Aleppo countryside        23.3 Idlib

23.3 % Damascus & Damascus countryside               12.2 latakia

0 % Tartous , Daraa & Swidaa

This opinion poll, which based on a sample of 90 Syrians have obtained the Turkish nationality recently in Istanbul, Hatay & Gaziantep.

The nationality is for scientific competencies!

In Turkish Hatay state (south), the investigation preparer documented nationalization & submitting documents of 360 Syrians, from end of April till end of November 2018, during monitoring comments of the nationalized persons , who submitted their documents through a group by (Whatsapp) application , regarding to the nationalized persons from Hatay or who were nominated for it.

“Here didn’t refuse any submitted request for obtaining the nationality” saying one of the Immigration Department’s employee.

Mahmoud Ghazal , residing at Hatay state which near to the Syrian border, from Latakia & Idlib side, he obtained the Turkish nationality in spite of that he did not has any Scientific & scholastic qualification or any private work and he is from Idlib , and currently he owns a small restaurant in “Rihania” city , and he is one of the middle-income persons .

“I am very happy by obtaining the Turkish nationality, and I don’t care about my Syrian passport, currently I am working as a Turkish, I can travel and I have secured the medical care for my children & their future, and the most important thing that I can buy a house, and I don’t intend to return back to Syria never “.

Ezz Eddin Alali, a pediatric doctor, and he have a work residency in Istanbul since two years, and no one called to him, for submitting to get the nationality, he is waiting that “eagerly” as he is saying.

Getting, “a Syrian passport & Turkish labor residency became very exhausted & cost matter”.

“We are Syrian’s competencies and the government said that it will nationalize the competencies, so where it is? Alali is asking.

This reality is contrary to the assurances of Turkish government officials in more than one occasion & declarations which reported by media, one of it a declaration of the last Turkish Prime Minister Yilderm – currently the president of the Perlman, that “granting the Turkish nationality will be only for competencies’ persons from Syrians “.

Mahmoud Alhalabi is another Syrian, he got the Turkish nationality two years ago, and he added an amendment on his family name (nickname), by adding (Uglu) word,

And He is of Turkmen descents, he submitted his documents for nationality, through known persons by him in the Directorate of Awqaf / Endowment, which has a paved way to nominates names of certain persons for nationality, his father a religion man and has relations with Directorate of Awqaf and he is speaking Turkish fluently.

As too Safi Alrefai from Damascus, holding a bachelor in Arabic language, before 5 months his refuge request to Canada was accepted, and when he decided to travel at the determined appointment they did not allow him, because his name included inside the nominees lists for nationality.

Thus he had to postpone his travel 15 days and he paid financial amounts until he becomes able through brokers, the governor’s known persons and Directorate of Immigration in Istanbul to remove his name from those lists to allow him to travel.

The Turkish states which the Syrians percentages are exceeding of 15 % of the total population:

Gaziantep: 20%           Orfa: 23%          Hatay: 28%        Kles: 91%

The criteria of nationalization are” absent”:

There are no fixed answers at the Immigration Department’s officials, after going the person who prepared this investigation to the central Immigration Department in Ankara, for asking about the required criteria for Syrians to get the nationality, about the receiving requests and giving appointments, “No fixed criteria, wait for call or a message in case you were nominated “. As the official said.

The situation doesn’t different in Istanbul, through asking the Civil Status Affairs’ director by the person who prepared the investigation at the city about the number of the nationalized Syrians, he refused to declare about any official numbers.

Before five years ago from now, and before the parliament & presidency elections, “30 thousands Syrians will vote at the parliament & presidency elections, after they have gotten the Turkish nationality” as said Binali Yildirm in a press statement reported by “Reuters”, and in consideration that the average of the Syrian family in turkey is 4 persons, so the number indicates to about 120 thousands nationalized person, and those rates were doubted by the Turkish opposition.

Through this reality, “Up to date, the numbers of nationalized Syrians do not exceed 50 thousand, and in consideration that everyone has a family of 3 persons, so we are in front of 200 thousand nationalized Syrians” as asserted by the lawyer Gazwan krunful.

“We do not know the hidden & the real number but certainly more & more than that” As Unal Chivek Oz, the deputy head of the opposed Republican People’s Party to the government.

Economic interdependence enhances the Turkish influence:

According to the Turkish Ministry of Interior, “Kels” the southern border city which considers the most Syrians presence inside it, and their percentage reaches 91% of the state’s population, and it is itself the state which inside it, the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is unleashed the issue of granting the Syrians competencies & investors the Turkish nationality exceptionally, in July 2016.

According to the Directorate of Trade & Customs data in southern Anatolia, the amount of Turkey exports to both of “Dire Alfurat” and “Ghusin Alzaytun” areas are $ 560 million dollars, and these numbers indicate strongly indicating the economic interdependence between it and the nearby Turkish cities.

And that accompanied with giving the permission of the Turkish government to the Turkish cars, investors & Turkish traders for going to Dire Alfurat’s areas across Jarablus crossing and returning back when they want, according to the local people asserts, to the investigation’s preparer.

The nationality for political purposes!

In spite of the Turkish government’s asserts that it will not grant the nationality to all Syrians which their numbers reached 3.5 million Syrian, so the Turkish opposition is accusing of the government in demographic changing in order to win the voters votes in the future.

So Camille Okaye Sender , the general secretary for the Republican People Party and he is one of the most prominent Turkish opposition parties, he  considers in a press statement to a group of journalists during November of 2018 that nationalize the Syrians is “a cover to achieve political goals”.

And “Yani Akeet” the Turkish journal which reported on the previous deputy of the opposition Republican people party Omot Oran that: ” the Syrians during 10 years will form about 10 percent of the population and that will leave a social, cultural and political effect on Turkey “.

“The nationalization of Syrians is concentrated at the south of Turkey due to the high intensive population for Syrians at sates of Hatay –Mersin –Orfa –Gaziantep – Kahraman, and Aramch” as saying the lawyer Krunful.

The reality is saying that the number of Syrian in Istanbul is exceeding on the half million, and the nationalized persons’ percentage not high as the results of the questionnaire showed, which has made by the investigation’s preparer.

And that imposes many new questions about the reason for increasing the nationalization rates at the south Turkish cities.

“The intensive nationalization hypothesis at the south Turkish areas, not related in elections issues or increasing votes of Justice and Development Party at these areas”, as saying the lawyer Krunful.

And he negates that the goal of nationalization in these areas for housing the nationalized persons in these areas to make a demographic changing, the authority, as he said “don’t have the right to force the residence at a certain area on the citizen”.

And Ibrahim Egman from “Denise” Center for polls, the same opinion, he thinks that “The authority cannot force a certain residence at certain cities on the citizens, but any Turkish citizen doesn’t have the right in any elections happening in Turkey, to elect outside of his department (his domicile registration place), unless he transferred it to his new city, and this is not a difficult step and it can be applied in any time “.

3.5 Million Syrians in Turkey (Ministry of Turkish Interior)

According to these statistics, the Syrians in Turkey form 4.2% of the total population for the country which estimated in 83 million people according to the Turkish statistics institute (Turkestat).

The position of the Turkish opposition and the street

There are different opinions in the Turkish street between rejectionists and pro-nationalization for Syrians, for many for many considerations linked to Syrians’ competition in the labor market, and the acquisition of governmental financial aids.

“Today there are more than 300 thousand Syrians have submitted their requests and we refuse to nationalize all these numbers and we do not accept that, because the nationalization process is happening not according to clear foundations” as Tashfik Oz , the deputy head of The People Party is saying to the investigation’s preparer.

Miral Uwkushnar , the leader of “Aljayid “party which dissident of the nationalist      movement , which established at the end of 2017 , she said ” The nationalization of Syrians should be stopped and agree with Syrian government “.

Yagmur Neil Gul, a Turkish citizen is clarifying that:” we don’t find work opportunities to give the nationality to Syrians”, and Zaki Banar, a Turkish citizen sees that “If they will work and pay the taxes I don’t have any problem in their obtaining the nationality”.

And this refusal for the Syrians nationalization process can be understood from convictions of the Turkish street and the opposition that the Syrians are causing unemployment to the Turks, in exchange for huge financial assistance from the Turkish government for them, and this is the conclusion of the general opinion polls about the Turks’ sight to the Syrians refugees.

This has been made by the Turkish police academy on 24 November 2018, and which its results were published by the Turkish channel “TRT HABER”.

Is this a granting nationality or for making them as Turks?

The Syrians nationalization’s issue and its development Coincides with the closure of the Syrian schools which are teaching by Arabic language, and forcing the Syrians students to enter the Turkish schools or going to the highly expensive private schools, which most of Syrians cannot bear its cost.

So the risks of the blending & nationalization process are become the last nail  in belonging the majority of the newborn babies & children to their country, even if number of them are nationalized or from the new “Turks”.

While the process of Syrians’ nationalization in turkey is going on, and blending the Syrians students in the Turkish schools and follow-up their scientific achievement in the Turkish language, and closing horizon of the near returning to Syria, because of risks losing the life, the deterioration of the local economy and establishing of economical projects in Turkey.

the Process of Making the next generation” as Turks /Turkification”, with vigorous attempts to make the current generation from Turkey’s Syrians as Turks, seems to be going on, in its way to becoming in future as Syria’s Turks.

This investigative story was completed by Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism – (SIRAJ). Published on DARAJ

The post What backgrounds of granting nationality to tens thousands of Syrian in Turkey? appeared first on SIRAJ.

Suha al-Ali -Idlib 

To divorce her husband in absentia or to waive her house, were the only two solutions for a Syrian lady to get out of the labyrinth she was put in.

Mariam A., 39, used to live in Ariha city, located in Idlib province, along with her husband who is a conscript in the Syrian regular forces, the thing that forced him later to flee to Damascus after Jaish al-Fatah managed to control Ariha in 2015, as he was a military adversary.

After Jaysh al-Fateh’s takeover, Ariha witnessed violent aerial bombardment, which produced a large number of displaced people including a lady who fled to Kafr Nabl, an adjacent town. After the bombardment stopped, she returned back along with her children to her two-room house, but she was shocked to see a family of al-Nusra Front fighter residing there. They told her that the house was confiscated because her husband was one of the Syrian regime’s Shabbiha.

It was almost three years since the incident, during which Jaish al-Fatah was dissolved, as al-Nusra Front separated from it, and changed its name to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and then to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham(HTS) after its separation from al-Qaeda.

However, what has not changed is that Mariam lost both her house and husband.

The maze of getting the house back

Mariam was not the only one whose house was confiscated; as the writer of this report counted the confiscation of 46 houses, throughout Idlib province, between 2013 and 2018 by HTS (formerly al-Nusra Front) and Jaish al-Fatah before it. She got this information through interviews, with persons whose houses were confiscated, and field visits, with a direct survey in several towns and villages of Idlib.

This six-month investigative report showed that HTS used two pretexts to seize people’s houses, where it either accused the person of being “Shabih” or an “apostate” without legal warrant. It was enough for the members of the Sharia Court or the judiciary, affiliated to HTS to write, “seized” or “at the disposal of the Sharia Court” on any house to confiscate it. From here, the legal owner of the house starts his long journey in courts to get it back. However, most of the civilians interviewed, failed in getting back their houses due to the lack of impartiality in HTS courts, since the entity that seizes the house is the same that took office, besides the lack of competence of HTS’ court judges, according to homeowners and eyewitnesses from the same area.

This violates Rule 50 of “Customary International Humanitarian Law” which stated; “the destruction or seizure of the property of an adversary is prohibited, unless required by imperative military necessity.”

This rule applies to non-international armed conflicts, such as the Syrian conflict, and applies also to the members of non-state armed groups, like HTS, according to a written response obtained by the preparer of this investigation from STJ, an independent human rights organization works to document human rights violations, stating that the seizure of houses and other properties of Idlib residents by HTS is a breach of its obligations as a party to the conflict and a clear violation of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

After confiscating her house, Mariam never gave up. She started asking Jaish al-Fatah Sharia Courts for assistance to get back her house, which is the only shelter for her and her children.

She headed to the court and told them that she had a legal contract of sale between her and her husband, which proves her ownership to half of the house, but judges there refused to give her back the right to dispose of the house.

However, because of her insistence on getting back her house, the judges suggested that the problem could be resolved by getting divorced in absentia in exchange for giving her back the right to dispose of the house. She refused to do so at first, but then she changed her mind because of two reasons; first, she wanted to get back her only shelter, and the second losing hope to reunite with her husband who was in Damascus, as she told the presenter of this investigation.

By the end of 2015, months after the confiscation of Mariam’s house, she stood at Jaish al-Fatah court and divorced her husband in absentia by a document signed by the judge, who in turn, wrote an eviction order to the new residents of the house immediately.

It was just the shock when the “al-Nusra Front” fighter’s family, settled in the house, never cared for the judge’s note and refused to leave the house. Nonetheless, no action was taken by the court to force them out. Consequently, Mariam had lost her husband in the first place and her only shelter in the second.

At the last interview with the presenter of this investigation, Mariam said, “she will never ever return to this area because she was disappointed there” and then Mariam disappeared, and no one knew where she went.

At the Disposal of the Court

Abdulkarim Barbour, who hails from Saraqib city in Idlib countryside, was displaced early in 2013, towards a safe village west of Aleppo as a result of the escalation of the shelling and he still doesn’t dare to return home.

Almost three months after displacement, specifically in April 2013, he accidently saw a photo published on the social media of his own house written on one of its walls “at the disposal of the court”.

Barbour added that he learnt from friends living in the neighborhood that “al-Nusra Front” rents his house to its Syrian and immigrant fighters in rotation.

Barbour dare not sue them out of fear of reprisals, the same fear that had already prevented him from returning home anyway. Therefore, he left his house to its fate.

 Accusation of apostasy

7 out of the 46 seized houses, which were documented by the investigation writer, were confiscated by charging their owners with “apostasy”.
Apostasy is the conscious abandonment of Islam by a Muslim in word, through deed, doubt or loss of faith” according to the Islamic scientific references.

Ali Amin as-Suwayed, 49, from Kafr Nabl but living in Kuwait for more than 20 years, was one of those Syrians whose houses were confiscated after being accused of apostasy.

As-Suwayed is the writer of the famous signs held by protesters in Kafr Nabl town. On April 28, 2015, he published an article criticizing Abu Mohammad al-Julani, the commander of HTS, which in response accused him of apostasy and confiscated his both houses in Kafr Nabl; knowing that his elderly parents lived in one of these houses and his nephew lived in the other.

As-Suwayed said: “al-Nusra Front accused me of apostasy and of distributing Takfiri leaflets”.
As-Suwayed rejected these charges and said that he is proud of being Muslim. Moreover, he faced “allegations of apostasy” with a massive media campaign that involved several activists from Idlib who refused the charge that was never based on clear evidence. This prompted al-Nusra Front to renounce its decision to confiscate as-Suwayed’s houses to avoid public outrage.

However, as-Suwayed added that after al-Nusra Front gave him back the right to dispose of his houses, it arrested his nephew, Bashar as-Suwayed, 23, who was living in one of the two confiscated houses. He has been held for more than 10 months, on a charge of communicating with his uncle, Ali, in order to put pressure on the latter.

The Free Idlib Army opposition faction currently controls Kafr Nabl town. However, HTS still has extensive influence over the town and throughout Idlib province.

Jihadists have the right to seize Shabiha’s houses

The house of Um Muhammad and her family was saved from being seized by HTS at the very last moments, after the latter sent her an eviction notice.

Where on Wednesday, 18 December 2017, a person knocked the door of Um Muhammad’s house located in Ma`arat al-Nu`man city, south of Idlib, and told her that they had to evacuate the house and to go to the courthouse the following day to meet the judge; the man turned to be from HTS courthouse.

“When the judge, who was a sheikh, came in, he started asking about my children and their whereabouts; I replied that they were in Hama city, and that one of them is a civil servant at the central inspection, whereas the other is a taxi driver.” Um Muhammad said.

The woman was shocked when the judge replied that the court had decided to confiscate her house, arguing that her son was working for the Syrian regime, and that her house had to be evacuated within a month as maximum. Despite all her attempts to persuade him that she has no other place to shelter in, and that her other three children had been killed during previous bombardment on the area, the judge did not alter his decision.

“When I asked the judge why he was taking such decision, he answered, “Jihadists have the right to seize shabiha’s houses”

Prior to the expiry of the time limit for the eviction, Um Muhammad contacted a person close to HTS agents to help her asking them to reverse their decision. Indeed, the person, whom Um Muhammad did not disclose his identity, spoke with the Sharia judge at the courthouse to disregard, even temporarily, the confiscation of her house.

While mediation was being applied, the two opposition movements; Nour al-Din al-Zenki and Ahrar al-Sham merged in the name of “Syrian Liberation Front” with the aim to fight HTS.  Fierce battles erupted in Ma`arat al-Nu`man, and led to withdrawal of HTS from the city, in early February. So, Um Muhammad’s house was saved from being confiscated, but in mid-April, HTS re-took the area, which raised again Um Muhammad’s fears of losing her house.

Um Muhammad was not the only person whose house was about to be confiscated by HTS in Ma`arat al-Nu`man. Last June 12, Um Rami, an alias, received a telegram stated that she had to go to HTS courthouse, and when she went there, she was told to evacuate the house she was living in, because it is registered to her son, who is a conscript in the Syrian regular forces.

The house was a two-storey building; the woman used to live downstairs with her children, and rent the upstairs to earn a living. The judge told her to evacuate the downstairs, and to tell the renter to pay the monthly rent to HTS instead.

Um Rami added that she tried to claim that the house was registered to her but she did not have ownership papers; she also tried to convince them that she was not responsible for her son’s actions, but all her attempts failed.

Later the attempts evolved to verbal altercation with the judge, but ended up with the retreat of HTS from the confiscation order, in exchange for paying HTS the monthly rent of the floor she used to rent, which was SYP 10,000.
Consequently, Um Rami lost her sole source of income, in the absence of any breadwinner.

Lack of the courts’ impartiality

The lawyer Ghazwan Qurunful, head of the “Free Syrian Lawyers Aggregation”, which is a Syrian rights organization in Turkey, described the legal arbitration process, deciding house cases in HTS courts as “a judicial circus tent”.

He said: “It is normal that houses were not retrieved, since the entity that confiscated them is the same that established the court, which all its judges are commissioners of the HTS authority and are woefully incompetent. Hence, it is wrong to form such courts with poor methodology and no rules.”

“Forming such courts is an additional offense, as by creating alternatives of the state courts, the armed factions shall commit an offence of “usurpation the Judiciary”, as the power of the judge mustn’t be exercised by any person”, Qurunful said.

“Legally, what HTS agents did is a pillaging property crime, that deprives a person of his right to dispose his property lawfully”, pointing out that it falls under misdemeanors, that there is no transfer of ownership, but just a temporary seizure.

The Syrian judge, Hussein Hamada, who has previously held several judicial positions in the Syrian government, stated; “the process of seizing a real estate has no legal basis; it is a violation of property rights, and has no legal consequences. Those who pass sentences like these must be held accountable”, he added “the Tashbeeh, must not be linked to seizure of the property because the property is safeguarded by the Syrian Constitution, and the pillage is only allowed for the public benefit in exchange for fair compensation.”

Judges of HTS are sharia men, whose scientific qualifications are identities are unclear, as they known by their titles like, Abu Muhammad, or Abu Hajer, etc.

Those sharia men were trained to be judges by attending a 15 day course entitled “Preparing a Sharia Judge”, according to Ahmad Bakour, the Syrian lawyer who was living in Idlib.

This process of judges’ appointment, contravenes Article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions, which says “the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples..”

The Minimum guarantees in criminal proceedings are determined by article 14/3 of the International Human Rights Law, which stated that the charged must be informed promptly and in detail in a language which he understands of the nature and cause of the charge against him,  have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence and to communicate with counsel of his own choosing; be tried without undue delay;  be tried in his presence, and defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing and not to be compelled to testify against himself or to confess guilt.

HTS courts are void since they do not apply the standard guarantees of the International Human Rights Law, according to Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ).

From a religious point of view, the Sheikh Ayman Muhammad, alias, a preacher and imam of a mosque in Idlib, indicates that “private property must be confiscated by the governor, who considered to be a guardian; not by a faction agent.” He added “if a faction allowed to do so, then other factions will have the same right since they are equal, which may be result in a complete chaos.”

Utilization not Pillage

We presented our facts to the Ministry of Justice in the “Syrian Salvation Government”, being the only civil rights body in Idlib province.

“The Salvation Government was formed in Idlib in November 2017; headed by Mohammed al-Sheikh. It took over civil administrations, which was previously controlled by HTS, days after its formation”

The Minister of Justice of Salvation Government, Dr. Ibrahim Shasho said: “Since the formation of the Salvation Government, there has been no decision to confiscate any house in Idlib.”

He added: “There is no seizure, but those found guilty of “Tashbeeh”, their houses are attached temporarily for the benefit of the displaced persons. We are an “interim judiciary”, deals with pressing cases, not a permanent one so we have the right to take advantage of houses but not to transfer their ownership.”

Dr. Shasho denied the allegations that the houses were be seized without sentence from the court, saying: “The decision of evacuation is made only by a judgment of the Military Judiciary after hearing the testimony of the Shabih’s house’s residents. And if the Shabih was the only breadwinner of his family, the house would not be evicted, the same if the family has no other house. But if it has two houses, then one of them would be evacuated in favor of a displaced family.”

* This investigation was carried out under the supervision of the Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism-SIRAJ, in cooperation with Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ).
Supervised by: the colleague, Ahmad Haj Hamdo.

The post “Eviction Notices in Idleb” appeared first on SIRAJ.

Published on Daraj Media

Three years ago, Mohammed Abu Abbas, only 17 years old , from Idlib Governorate, found no difficulty to join Jund al-Aqsa, a hardline Islamist faction.

At that time, the faction was being active in the governorate and launching military operations along with other opposing factions, which fight against the Syrian regime’s army.

But that was before Hay’et Tahrir al-Sham, previously known as Jabhat al-Nusra, ended its military presence in the area last year.

Having engaged in fighting against other opposing factions, the remaining members of Jund al-Aqsa were transferred to the areas run by “Daesh” in the east. Continuing to work as a fighter, Abu Abbas, only 14 years old,  has defected from Jund al-Aqsa and joined Hay’etTahrir al-Sham, the most powerful military faction.

“I joined Hay’etTahrir al-Sham three years ago. First, I underwent an intensive course in Sharia and in military training, getting acquainted with the fundamental concepts of Islam, the basic military tasks, and the way in which battles against Al-Assad’s forces are fought. For almost a year, I had been an ordinary fighter in a battalion until the battalion commander was martyred. Then, being well-built, I have chosen from among the brethren to be the new battalion commander.”

After talking with the “child” soldier, Abu Abbas, it turns out that the religious motive has been the springboard for his involvement in the fighting. “Jihad is an obligation imposed on every Muslim,” he said. “We are being killed every day by artillery and aerial bombing. Of course, young men are joining their mujahideen brethren to defend their religion, their honor and their land. Under the leadership of Jund al-Aqsa, we received neither salary nor monetary aid, and we were earning money by selling spoils of war. However, the basic necessities of life, such as food and water, were secured in my residence in the battalion headquarter,” he added.

After the peaceful protests in Syria transformed into military conflict in 2011, the recruitment of children has become widespread in the north and whole of Syria, where the various military factions and the forces on the ground have been actively involved in recruiting children as soldiers for military operations.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that the children of Syria faced unprecedented suffering as a result of the escalation of violence in 2016, the worst year since the outbreak of the war in 2011. They are being recruited to “fight on the front lines of war”, to perform acts of “execution”, to “detonate suicide belts”, or to work as prison guards. More than 850 Syrian children, more than double compared with 2015, were recruited to fight in 2016.

Another type of child recruitment

The recruitment of children is not only limited to prompting them to fight on the front lines of battles, but also extends to making them fulfill works related to military manufacturing, night watching, manning military checkpoints and others, which constitutes a violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Such works are carried out only to receive material benefit, according to the view of  Hassan Al-Hamawi, 16 years old, who has been working for almost a year in a weapons factory in the western countryside of Aleppo.

In fact, the young fighter, Al-Hamawi , does not know the name of the faction for which he works.

Needing to earn a daily income after losing his brother during a raid on the area, he finds himself forced to do such a work as this in order to support his family.

“My job is to help everyone in the factory, which produces its own improvised mortars. I go to the work every day at 7 am and come back at 4 pm, and the daily hours of the work include some rest periods. However, sometimes there is pressure of work, so we neither rest nor eat,” he says.

Al-Hamwi gets an amount of  50,000 pounds ($ 100) each month. In addition, he receives  a food parcel, “which may not be delivered monthly,” according to him.

Lucky fighter

Compared with his peers who fight on the front lines, Al-Hamwi feels comfortable and is considered fortunate in having such a job, which does not endanger his life, because “the factory does not contain explosive materials, and his work is limited to manufacturing molds”. He says, “I’m too young to join battle, but when I grow up, I will certainly establish my identity as a first-rate fighter.”

At the same factory, Al-Hamwi shares the work with another 10-year-old boy, whose task is to help the “adults”, to prepare tea and coffee for the workers, and to clean and sweep the floor.

Phenomenon needs to be fought by Awareness-raising initiatives

The Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement and other factions, the most notable of which is Hay’etTahrir al-Sham, have run Idleb governorate since 2015. The Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement has set out conditions for gaining its membership, identifying the age group.

Omar Khattab, a military spokesman for the Movement, says: “Undoubtedly, we categorically refuse to let our sons who lack mental and physical ability get involved in battles. We refrain from making our children fuel for the ongoing war. But, We seek to create a generation capable of sustaining the revolution, a generation who is educated and is on the right track.”

He denied that the Movement had recruited persons, whether young or old. “Actually, the basis and goal of the Movement as well as the clarity of its purpose and its actual achievements on the ground are what have prompted many to join it,” he said.

Although organizations and supervisory bodies confirm that the Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement has recruited children, the military spokesman for it emphasizes that “the talk about the recruitment of children by the Movement is devoid of truth and is unsupported by any evidence.”

When asked about the measures taken in relation to children asking to join the Movement’s ranks, he explained “There are so many other things that can save children’s lives and keep them away from the risk as much as possible.Such children can undergo religious and medical courses as well as joining educational centers.”

Increasing numbers of recruits

Al-Ahmad believes that ”the list of shame”, published by The UN in a detailed annual report on the phenomenon of recruiting children, has included  factions or other parties that recruit children around the world.

According to Al-Ahmad, the United Nations has documented the involvement of several factions in recruiting children in Syria. Such factions include: the Free Army; the Islamic factions, such as Jaysh al-Islam, Jabhat al-Nusra, and Ahrar al-Sham; unknown armed groups; the regime’s militias; and the Kurdish People’s Protection Unit.

In general, all parties and warring factions have disproportionately involved in recruiting children.

Usually, the recruitment age is between the ages of 15 and 18.

However, there are cases of recruiting children under the age of 15; Al-Ahmad confirms that the rate of such cases is estimated at 15 to 30 percent of all the children recruited in Syria. While The factions that recruit children present “flimsy arguments” including that children aged 15 are appropriate to participate in war, Al-Ahmad says, “Such arguments are not accepted”.

Portraying children as heroes

There are many reasons that prompt children to enroll in military service. The common reasons are the poor living conditions; the military factions’ propaganda activities, suchpropaganda activities are also conducted by “Daesh”; and the temptations by the armed groups which include paying monthly salaries and giving aid to the recruited and their families.

In addition, children have been considerably induced by armed groups to accept military recruitment. The armed groups portray their acts as acts of heroism, so children believe that they would become heroes when joining them, according to Jalal Ahmed, the director of Justice For Life Organization.

This phenomenon is on the increase in the north of Syria.

Recruiting and using children under the age of 15 as soldiers in armed conflicts constitute a war crime, according to the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court.

Human rights lawyers and activists previously confirmed the recruitment of 500 children in Idlib after  the campaign of “Enfer”, Go Forth, in 2016;the campaign was conducted by both the “Center For Jihad Advocacy”, affiliated to Jabhat al-Nusra, and the Saudi preacher Abdullah al-Muhaysini, targeting children from various camps and districts in Idlib.

• This investigative report is prepared by the support and supervision of the Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ).

The post “Money” and “propaganda activities” attract children to “Al-Nusra” and its affiliates in Idlib appeared first on SIRAJ.

By Ali Alibrahim and Ahmed Haj Hamdo

Published on Daraj Media

wiping away his tears of grief, Mohammed, a doctor in his forties at Dar al-Rahma Medical Center in the Eastern Ghouta area of rural Damascus, gathers the leftovermedicines from his desk inside a small bag.The doctor said: “The hundreds of cancer patients, whose health records have been stacked up in a wooden cabinet, have been waitig months for “salvation”.

Just now, Samer, a child who has not yet completedthe age of 5, accompanied by his grandmother, a 50-year-old woman, arrived to the Center, which is the only medical center specialized in treating cancer patients. He is among the 559 cancer patientsin the Ghouta,according to the center’s statistics. He is awaiting for doses of treatment, which have completely run outduring the siege imposed by the Syrian regime forces.

The grandmothersays, “his fatherhas beenimprisoned for about three years, while his mother has migrated to Egypt.So, he is left with me to look after.”

She adds thatSamer”was complained of pain in his stomach and feet.While providing medical examination for him, the doctorsdiscovered hehad blood cancer. we started to treat himin the Dar al-Rahma.But today, he is without treatment because doses are not available.”

Death threatens everyone

The siege on the eastern Ghouta, which includes dozens of villages, towns and cities and ispopulated by about 400,000 civilians, has imposed a dire situation on cancer patients due to the totallack of medical treatment and the destruction of the entire healthcare system.

First, Ghouta was partially besieged in October 2012.Then, almost a year later, in 2013, the siege wastightenedafter a military shift on the ground for the sake of the Syrian regime forces, which advanced from many axes.Consequently, the lives of the hundreds of injured people were in danger because of the interruption to the supply of medicines, amid the appeals bythemedical and relief arms of the United Nations, based in Damascus, to bring in the convoys of relief and medical assistance.

Again, in February 2017, the Syrian regime forces and allied militia carried out an assault on the Al-Qaboun and Tishreen districts northeast of the capital Damascus , taking control of all the tunnels used to smuggle medicines and necessities from the regime-controlled areas to besieged areas.As a result,theeastern Ghouta has been completely blockaded without any outlet and cut off from the world for eight months.

This prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to express its “deep concern over the deteriorating health situation in theeastern Ghouta area of rural Damascus, and it called for immediately allowing life-saving aid.

The WHO confirmed that the three government hospitals in addition to 17 public healthcare facilities in the eastern Ghouta are not working, and thatpeople cannot reach them, pointing out that its health partners have allocated additional suppliesthat are readyto be delivered once the access is granted. But, the WHO has not been given permission for access.

“Within two weeks, all medicines will have beenrun out.If the siege continues, there will be a massacre committed against the sick,” said Dr. Wisam al-Ruz, a director of Dar al-Rahma Center.

Impossible dream of treatment

 The lack of medical treatment has not only affected children, but also the elderly, women and the pregnant. Themedical treatment is now a dream as people say.

Sara, a woman in her 20s from Douma, has received cancer treatment for about a year inthe same center where Samer is treated. She reached a late stage of treatment and began to recover.But now, her health situation is worsening because she is deprived of medical doses which have run out, according to a specialist doctor at Dar al-Rahma Medical Center.

Sarah knows that the fate of cancer patients is “inevitable death”.”We are cancer patients.Although we are sure that our fate is inevitable death, we arehoping of living for a few more years, but even this hope has fadedas the siege continues,” she said calmly.

Sarah is among 559 cancer patients who are waiting for medicine,while their records remain stacked up inside Dar al-Rahma.Now, the Center can provide doses to only 3% of patients and their records are waiting a decision from the medical staff of the Center,according to the director of Dar al-Rahma, Wisam al-Roz.

Therefore, the Syrian Human Rights Network considered that the siege of al-Ghouta is a form of collective punishment. The network’s director, Fadel Abdel Ghani, emphasized that most of death cases caused by the siege were of vulnerable groups such as infants, the elderly, the sick, and the injuredin repeated bombardments, and there are no sufficient medicines to treat them. In addition, the siegehas reflected badly on chronic patients, especiallythose with cancer.

Escaping for treatment

 over the last three months, 20 cancer patients have died in Dar al-Rahma Center, approximately every five days one of thecancer patientsdies.Such patients, including four children under 10 months old,were receiving medical treatment. But the Center is no longer able to renew its stock of anti-cancer drugs.

The Center has been rationing its limited stock of medicines because ofthe shortage of supplies. While, Prior to the siege, the Center managed to cure 37% of the cancer patients, and only 10% of them dieduntil the end of 2016, according to the director of the Center.

Because of the siege, the Center has been forced to change the course of treatment by reducing the amounts of doses given to some patients. As a result, those patients, who were recovering, have relapsed, according to a specialized nurse at the Center.

The treatment of cancer is divided into two types, the first through Chemotherapyand the second through radiotherapy. According to the director of Dar Al-Rahma Center, patientswere undergoingradiotherapy or chemotherapy or both, depending on the progression of cancer disease.

The medical staff of the Center confirmed to the author of this investigative report that patientswho needradiotherapy were going to Damascus through tunnels for treatment, which is only available atAl-NawawiHospital in the capitalDamascus, while we secured doses from the capital in different way to patients who are in need ofchemotherapy.

“But today after the closure of the tunnels, there is no possibility of providing either of the treatments, and the Center is in danger of running out of steam not for financial reasons but because there are no drugs to treat patients.”

Unavailable Drugs

 What hinders access to medicines, which are completely unavailable, is because the production and supply is controlled by the Syrian Ministry of Health, which has prevented medicinesfrom enteringthe Ghouta and not allowed the patients to be evacuated to the hospitals of the capital Damascus, according to a number of patients and relief workers in the ​​Harasta and Douma areas in the eastern Ghouta.

“Since the closure of the tunnels, which served as anunderground lifeline for half a million people, the cancer drugs have been cut off, andtoday, ifdrugsare available, their prices are very high and patients cannot afford them at all,” said BakrAbd al-Salam, a field doctor. “Some medicines cost more than a thousand dollars, which is anastronomical sum at the current timein the eastern Ghouta, while they don’t exceed a few pounds in value, in Damascus,” he added.

Treatment in Idlib

When asked by the journalists about the steps to stop the “disaster” threatening the lives of hundreds of patients, the World Health Organization said it has formally requested the Syrian government to evacuate patients from the eastern Ghouta in order to be treatedeither in Damascus or Idlib, according to their own will.

The WHO has been submitting to the Security Council a monthly report on the constraints and difficulties confronting the efforts to provide health and humanitarian assistance to the besiegedand hard-to-reach areas of Syria.

According to organization’s statements that the author of this investigative reportread, 7 tons of medical supplies, medicines and equipment were sent through inter-agency relief convoys to the health facilities in the besieged area, to which the last convoy got through on October 30, 2017.

Mr. Jan Egeland, UN humanitarian adviser for Syria,said:”400,000 People are trapped in the eastern Ghouta near Damascus, facing’completecatastrophe’, and hundreds of people need urgent medical evacuation. Deprived of being evacuated, Seven patients have died, and 28 patients, including 18 children, areon the brink of death. ”

Regarding cancer patients,who live under the threat of death with a tiny bit of hope, they have been included in the list submitted to the Syrian government and will be evacuated to receive appropriate treatment, according to the WHO.

Snowballing crisis

Mohammed Ali Asida, the most recent victim of the siege, died on Nov.4, 2017 in the town of Hazza in the eastern Ghouta, after his health situationdeteriorated due to bowel cancer and the lack of essential medicines.

Supposedly, the residents of the eastern Ghouta andof all the besieged cities in Syria should have been spared from this situation, as three months ago a deal, coming into effect on the 18th of last August, was agreed among the guarantor states of Iran, Russia and Turkey to set up de-escalation zones in the Eastern Ghouta and three other areas.

The section 7 of the agreement provides that ”the both partiesshall immediately take all necessary measures to imrove the humanitarian situation in the de-escalation zones;and to that end, the both parties shall ensure and facilitate the immediate entry of relief convoys of food and medicinesas well as other humanitarian needs through two crossing points controlled by the first party, the regime, in EinTarma and Harasta. This will be accompanied by the evacuation of patients to Syrian or Russian hospitals, according to their own will.”

Therefore, the continuing siege constitutes a violation of one of the main provisions of the agreement on “de-escalation zones”and a “clear breach” of it, which should have alleviated the suffering of civilians, primarily the sick.

“The Syrian regime and Russia have not complied with the agreement, and there is no seriousness by them to abide by suchprovisions, the most important of which is the opening of humanitarian corridors,” said WaelAllwan, a spokesman for Failak Al-rahman,an opposing faction in the Eastern Ghouta.

“The agreement is not very different from the previous ones, whichcompletely havenot been translated into reality,” he added.

On the other hand, It has not been possible to contact an official Syrian body to express its opinion on this subject.

Complex bureaucratic approval process

As well as the breaching of the agreement on de-escalation zones, the siege imposed on the patients in the eastern Ghouta constitutes a violation of Security Council resolution 2254, which in article 12 states that “the parties shall immediately provide humanitarian agencies with rapid, safe and unhindered access to all parts of Syria through the most direct routes, and that the parties shall immediately allowhumanitarian assistance for all those in need, especially in the besieged and inaccessible areas  “.

But, the Syrian regime, which is supposed to allow access for humanitarian agencies, has not implemented that article, and neither hasthe International Syria Support Group, which should have used their influence as superpowers on the besieging party to achieve this aim.

Thestate of thissiege, whichis not the first of its kind in Syria, resemblestheprevious tragicones thatresulted in the deaths of civilians in Zabadani, Madaya, Darayya and other areas.This happens because of many reasons, the most notable of which is thatthe Syrian regime controls humanitarian convoys. That is what Human Rights Watchconfirmedin its annual report published at the end of 2016. The reportindicated thatthe Syrian government has continued to require relief agencies to obtain permission throughcomplex bureaucratic approval before accessingsuch areas.

Today, the UN teams in Damascus have no choice butto appeal for help in overcoming obstacles and to issue reports documenting the most terrible scenes of the siege and the daily deathsof patients and civilians,in the absence of the effective pressure mechanisms, which have been set out in relevant United Nations resolutions.Meanwhile, 350,000 people await their unknown fate in the eastern Ghouta and 559 patients await looming death.

• This investigative report is prepared by the support and supervision of the Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ).

The post “Looming death in Ghouta” appeared first on SIRAJ.